Foley Hoag LLP was the recipient of the 2024 Partner in Justice Award from the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA), given to one law firm each year for excellence in the field of international human rights.
The award was presented at CJA's 26th anniversary gala, which celebrates the trailblazers and innovators who are advancing human rights, justice, and accountability.
In particular, CJA recognized Foley Hoag’s International Litigation & Arbitration Department for its work on several international human rights matters, including:
- Research, fact gathering, and advocacy in connection with the denaturalization and deportation to Chile of Lt. Pedro Pablo Barrientos Núñez, a former member of Pinochet dictatorship who oversaw a program of forced detention, torture, and extrajudicial killing of thousands of civilians. Barrientos was found responsible in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida (MD.Fla) for the torture and killing of the late-folk musician and political activist, Víctor Jara. Barrientos was deported in late 2023 to stand trial in Chile for his role in the crimes committed during the Pinochet regime. Members of Foley Hoag had previously represented the widow and estate of Victor Jara in the 2016 Md.Fla case under the Alien Torture Statute and Torture Victim Protection Act, in which Barrientos was ordered to pay Jara’s estate $28 million in compensatory and punitive damages. The evidence from this case was used for the denaturalization proceedings.
- Representing CJA in its submission to the UN to obtain United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) status to present the perspective of survivors of torture before the UN and its bodies. Status was granted.
- Representing Loujain al-Hathloul, a Saudi women’s rights activist and political prisoner, before the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, in a lawsuit seeking to hold U.S. intelligence operatives and a cybersurveillance company accountable for their role in enabling her extradition to Saudi Arabia, where she was detained and tortured.
- An appeal on behalf of victims of torture committed by the Khmer Rouge before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).
"The firm is proud to have partnered with CJA for over a decade," said Christina Hioureas, Foley Hoag partner and International Litigation & Arbitration Department Global Co-Chair. “It is incredibly rewarding to work on behalf of courageous survivors of torture who, together with States, are seeking to address the legacies of large-scale past conflict to promote truth-seeking, advance accountability, and achieve reconciliation.”
Founded in 1998, CJA represents survivors of torture and human rights abuses in cases against individual rights violators. Its mission is to deter torture, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other severe human rights abuses around the world through innovative litigation, policy, and transitional justice strategies.
“Foley Hoag has had a longstanding commitment to pro bono, particularly on matters promoting international human rights and in working with States on transitional justice,” said Pro Bono Counsel Rebecca Cazabon. "We are proud to partner with CJA in the effort to seek justice on behalf of survivors of human rights violations throughout the world.”
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