Clooney Foundation launches global effort to monitor court trials

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DECEMBER 5, 2018 / 7:06 AM / UPDATED 29 MINUTES AGO

Clooney foundation launches global effort to monitor court trials

Jonathan Landay

3 MIN READ

FILE PHOTO - Actor George Clooney and his wife Amal pose at the 46th AFI Life Achievement Award Gala in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 7, 2018. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A justice foundation created by George and Amal Clooney is set to announce on Wednesday a global initiative called TrialWatch to monitor court trials where there is a risk of abuse and to rank countries’ judicial systems.

Working with the Columbia University Law School and the American Bar Association, the TrialWatch initiative will train an international network of court monitors, including non-lawyers, whose reports will be used by legal experts to grade trials according to international standards, several lawyers and academics involved with TrialWatch said.

“Today, courts all over the world are used as tools of oppression. Governments get away too easily with imprisoning opposition figures, silencing critics and persecuting vulnerable groups through the courts. Trial monitoring will shine a light on these abuses,” Amal Clooney said in a statement.

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Amal Clooney, who married the Oscar-winning actor George Clooney in 2014, is an international law and human rights lawyer who has been a visiting professor at Columbia University Law School since 2015. She and her husband launched the Clooney Foundation for Justice, which focuses on promoting justice in courtrooms and elsewhere, in 2016.

Her high profile cases have included representing Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, and the former Prime Minister of Ukraine, Yulia Tymoshenko, as well as the country of Armenia in its fight for recognition of the Armenian genocide.

She currently is a member of the legal team representing Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who were detained last year by Myanmar authorities while investigating the killing of 10 men and boys of the Rohingya minority during a military crackdown. The pair was convicted on Sept. 3 under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act and sentenced to seven years.

Sarah Cleveland, faculty director of Columbia University Law School’s Human Rights Institute, said that while many organizations monitor high-profile trials, TrialWatch also will scrutinize lesser-known cases.

The aim is “to expand global capacity so that we can reach trials that don’t involve the deposed head of state,” said Cleveland, who teaches a human rights course with Amal Clooney.

Reporting by Jonathan Landay; Editing by Mary Milliken and Rosalba O'Brien

This is very impressive.

They have been working hard

It looks like Amal had plastic surgery.  Did she?

Where?

I don't see it. What do you think she had done?

She looks the same to me nothing different.

party animal - not! wrote:Where?

The nose and cheek area.  Maybe a photo-shop touch up.

She looks different to me.

Nope

Just no red carpet make-up

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Four plus years ago

Back to the topic:

Here's the description of the new project:

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And here are some very recent reports from courts around the world where CFJ has monitors for human rights cases

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Very impressive

I don’t know enough about this and don’t have the time to get up to speed ... but I worry about the monitors... how are they and their families protected or do the monitors fly in from (same language/legal system) neighbouring countries....

All answered if I had time to study... this could just be lifted from trial records, and adjudicated, no one put in harms way....

Goodness, they are making huge strides worldwide...........

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and

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Very informative video by Amal and George. Impressive. Hope this project will have real positive impact!

From the  link:

How the CFJ and UNICEF USA Partnership Is Helping Lebanon Get Syrian Refugee Children Back to School

 

Watch Marah’s story and learn more about how CFJ is working to ensure more Syrian refugee children don’t end up part of a lost generation.
The war in Syria, which started in 2011, has driven some 2.5 million children from home into neighboring countries. Of that number, 700,000 of them are unable to go to school.
Thanks to its partnership with UNICEF USA, the Clooney Foundation for Justice has helped to ensure that 12-year-old Marah is not one of them. Originally from Deraa in Syria, Marah and her family fled to Lebanon to wait for the conflict to die down, thinking they’d be home in a matter of days. But as the days turned into months, and the family waited in limbo, Marah and her parents began to despair over what would come of her future.
With the world’s highest per capita refugee population, Lebanon has been particularly impacted by the more than one million Syrian refugees now living within its borders. The influx has doubled the number of children seeking public education, taxing resources, particularly schools. Both refugee children and Lebanese students alike have suffered.
To help Lebanon bear that burden, the Clooney Foundation for Justice formed a $2.25 million partnership with UNICEF USA, which includes a generous donation from Google.org, and a $1 million technology grant from HP. Since the partnership launched in 2017, 2,800 Syrian children like Marah have gone back to school, giving them and their families hope for a brighter future.

Rawaa.jpg

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Seeking justice for those in need is familiar territory for the Clooneys. The Clooney Foundation for Justice was established in late 2016 by George and Amal Clooney to advance justice in courtrooms, classrooms and communities around the world.
“Thanks to their contribution, those children are receiving the education, in a second shift,” reports Tanya Chapuisat, of UNICEF Lebanon. “They're also getting transport, homework support, the whole package of support that UNICEF can provide to Syrian refugee children. Thanks to the Clooney Foundation for Justice, these children are attending school.”
Vulnerable Lebanese children are benefiting as well. With UNICEF and partner help, Lebanon’s Ministry of Education strengthened its 1,283 public schools so Syrian and Lebanese could learn together. As a result, during the 2016-2017 school year, nearly 230,000 were able to get an education.
“UNICEF is here to deliver and support all children living in Lebanon — be they Syrian, Lebanese or Palestinians,” says Chapuisat.
That is a formidable task. As of June, half of the Syrian children in Lebanon — approximately 250,000 — are still missing out on an education. And, with no end to the Syrian conflict in sight, there’s little hope they’ll be going home soon, or, says Chapuisat, that the needs of children in Lebanon will become any less acute.
“We've been here from the beginning of the crisis and we'll be here after the crisis, both supporting the emergency response, but also the Lebanese children, especially those vulnerable, to have a better life.”