Rule of Law
The Open Society Foundations work internationally to develop effective and accountable justice systems. Nationally, we support and train lawyers and community paralegals, and seek to make justice accessible to all.
Navalny’s Legacy
Night Country: The Mysterious Death of Alexei Navalny in Putin’s Russia
![Alexei Navalny and other demonstrators march in memory of a murdered Kremlin critic in Moscow on February 29, 2020. Photo credit: © Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Alexei Navalny and other demonstrators march in Moscow.](https://opensocietyfoundations.imgix.net/uploads/0e07e11d-4ad9-4126-bd4c-c3df003752da/20240220-kudryavtsev-moscow-navalny-2020-3000.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=200&q=80&rect=0%2C63%2C3000%2C1875)
Alexei Navalny’s death underscores the paradox of Russian power—that the voice of one man imprisoned and isolated in the Arctic should be such a threat.
Legal Empowerment
Using the Law to Advance Open Society: A Timeline
![Representatives of the Open Society Justice Initiative and other human rights organizations take part
during a news conference on crimes against humanity at the Museum of Memory and Tolerance in
Mexico City, June 7, 2016. Photo credit:
© Edgard Garrido/Reuters/Redux Seven people sit on a panel.](https://opensocietyfoundations.imgix.net/uploads/c36c7eaf-4f48-4b51-8dcc-71c330f09e44/20230426-garrido-mexico-crimes-against-humianity-3000.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=200&q=80&rect=0%2C125%2C3000%2C1875)
It’s been 20 years since the Justice Initiative was launched to help advance open society values through human rights litigation, advocacy, and legal empowerment. This is a timeline of the Initiative’s biggest milestones.
Investigative Journalism
This Reporter Helped Free 1,600 Yemeni Prisoners
![Investigative reporter Wael Sharha speaks with prisoners Abdo Al-Dhabibi, Hassan Salem, and Fatini Yahya Ibrahim in a prison yard in Al Hudaydah, Yemen, in August 2018. Photo: © Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism A reporter on left speaks to three men in blue shirts](https://opensocietyfoundations.imgix.net/uploads/126d75eb-9406-4814-99a9-0872edcedf00/201808-arij-yemen-sharha-wael-prisoners-photo15-1500.jpeg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=200&q=80&rect=0%2C31%2C1500%2C938)
Yemen is one of the most dangerous countries on earth for journalists. Yet against all odds, Wael Sharha conducted an investigation into unlawful detainments. The story of how his work resulted in 1,600 inmates being freed.
We Can’t Wait
A Travesty of Justice for Indigenous People in Mexico’s Prisons
![An inmate speaks on the phone at a prison in Monterrey, Mexico, on September 21, 2019. Photo credit: © Julio Cesar AGUILAR/AFP/Getty An inmate speaks on the phone against the wall](https://opensocietyfoundations.imgix.net/uploads/96e00288-aad0-4584-91f9-f6dbc19a3ae6/20210223-cesar-mexico-prison-3000.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=200&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C3000%2C1875)
Even though it passed with fanfare nearly a year ago, Mexico’s government has yet to enforce an amnesty bill that offered hope to many indigenous people who did not receive a fair trial in the first place.
RIP
Yuri Orlov and the Legacy of Helsinki Watch
![Yuri Orlov at the European Council in Strasbourg, France, on May 10, 1989. Photo credit: © Chip Hires/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Yuri Orlov](https://opensocietyfoundations.imgix.net/uploads/12e7707c-d181-4f45-8202-7e8ceaa1fead/20201014-hires-orlov-yuri-1989-3000.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=200&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C3000%2C1875)
Although he is not as famous as many other dissident activists of his generation, the physicist Yuri Orlov, who passed away recently, should be remembered as a seminal figure within the broader movement for human rights.
A Holistic Answer
Demanding a Just COVID-19 Response
![A mobile team of doctors returns after visiting patients who reported symptoms of COVID-19, in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on April 30, 2020. Photo credit: © Dmitry Motinov for Soros Foundation—Kyrgyzstan Two doctors walking in a hallway](https://opensocietyfoundations.imgix.net/uploads/7236babd-6d97-4267-8e55-3efedc6262c6/20200716-motinov-kyrgyzstan-doctors-coronavirus-1600.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=200&q=80&rect=0%2C33%2C1600%2C1000)
As our grantees, partners, and allies work tirelessly to reduce the damage brought on by the pandemic, we at Open Society are committed to long-term reforms that will address the structural injustices worsened by the virus.
Rule of Law
Q&A: A Victory for Asylum Seekers in Hungary
![A child with a balloon stands among a group of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers assembled near Roeszke, Hungary, on September 15, 2015. Photo credit: © Alexander Magedler/Anzenberger/Redux A child plays with a balloon in a crowd of people](https://opensocietyfoundations.imgix.net/uploads/0bdb0c86-f00f-479a-b5a4-900ec68495d3/20200616-magedler-hungary-refugees-3000.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=200&q=80&rect=0%2C63%2C3000%2C1875)
Thanks to an unusually forceful judgment from the EU Court of Justice, the rights of asylum seekers in the EU have been reaffirmed and the dangerous precedent set by Hungary’s government has been challenged.
Power to the People
How the Law Can Empower Victims of COVID-19
![A woman discusses her citizenship status with a paralegal activist, in Kanchanpur District, Nepal, on August 4, 2018. Photo credit: © Kishor Sharma/Majority World for the Open Society Foundations Two women speaking outside a house](https://opensocietyfoundations.imgix.net/uploads/0e332123-10a3-4f2c-8f4a-0cbb681e84d4/20180804-sharma-nepal-idenitity-201-3000.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=200&q=80&rect=0%2C125%2C3000%2C1875)
Through legal empowerment and community-based justice initiatives, the very same people who are suffering the most from the pandemic can be given the tools they need to fight for justice and defend their rights.