Mission

The Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA) is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation dedicated to furthering criminal justice efforts through investigations, in order to prevent the loss and destruction of vital evidence for the purpose of supporting prosecutorial efforts to end impunity, whether at the domestic or international level.

Vision

CIJA’s aim is to expand opportunities to achieve justice for a broad range of crimes that impact vulnerable populations across the globe, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, terrorism, human trafficking, and migrant smuggling.

Our Core Values 

CIJA focuses on the investigation of a broad range of crimes including war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, terrorism, human trafficking and migrant smuggling.

CIJA team members have extensive experience in carrying out each of the core these investigations or have been trained and mentored by senior international experts. The ultimate aim of CIJA investigations is to support the arrest and prosecution of those responsible for these crimes.

INVESTIGATION: CIJA interviews witnesses and gathers documents and other physical and digital evidence generated by perpetrator groups. CIJA investigations focus on the collection of inculpatory and exculpatory material that can be used as evidence in criminal proceedings and places a particular emphasis on evidence related to organisational and command structures that can assist in identifying those leaders of a group or criminal organisation that may order, direct or manage criminal activity. In all relevant instances, CIJA includes an examination of alleged sexual and gender-based crimes within the scope of investigations and subsequent analytical work.

EVIDENCE PRESERVATION AND MANAGEMENT: CIJA investigators aim to collect and preserve evidence in areas where hostilities have subsided, searching facilities or areas that have been abandoned or destroyed and may contain evidence of crimes committed where they can do so safely. CIJA utilises an evidence management system to scan, archive, preserve and manage materials that it collects to make available for use in future investigations and prosecutions.

ASSISTANCE TO JUSTICE ACTORS: CIJA provides information, evidence and analysis to international and domestic justice actors in support of their ongoing investigations and prosecutions. CIJA currently works to support prosecutions in 13 countries and assists 37 law enforcement and counter-terrorism organisations globally.

ANALYSIS AND CASE BUILDING: CIJA analysts and lawyers review material collected from the field, carry out rigorous analysis of all inculpatory and exculpatory evidence concerning alleged crimes, the structure of responsible groups, and the role of individual perpetrators and produce analytical reports and briefs in order to assist CIJA’s criminal justice partners as they work to understand the often-complex structures as well as individuals associated with the criminality being investigated.

CAPACITY BUILDING: CIJA provides capacity building to its team members and works with local partners to build their capacity to carry out these functions themselves over the longer term. These activities cover a wide range of topics including evidence collection and management, witness interviewing skills, sexual and gender-based violence investigations, online investigations, all source analysis and complex case building. CIJA field teams receive direct support from senior team members on a regular basis and benefit from an ongoing capacity development program that builds on past skills.