ECCHR

What ECCHR does

ECCHR (European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights e.V.) is an independent, nonprofit human rights organization founded in 2007 by Wolfgang Kaleck and other international lawyers and headquartered in Berlin at Zossener Straße 55-58. The organization pursues strategic legal interventions—using universal jurisdiction principles and other legal mechanisms—to hold perpetrators accountable for international crimes including war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture, sexual violence, corporate human rights abuses, and border-related violations. ECCHR works directly with survivors, victim-witnesses, partner NGOs, and cooperating lawyers across Europe, the Middle East, the Americas, Africa, and Asia to file cases before German and European courts and international bodies, and has produced landmark outcomes including the world's first trial for state torture in Syria before OLG Koblenz and an arrest warrant against Syrian intelligence chief Jamil Hassan.

ECCHR's work is delivered through six core programs and platforms. The Critical Legal Training program develops a pipeline of strategic human rights lawyers, while the International Summer School, co-organized with Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and Tilburg Law School, focuses on corporate responsibility and climate justice. The Investigative Commons, co-founded with Forensic Architecture and Forensis in 2020, expands forensic evidence production beyond state-appointed experts. The Living Open Archive documents the organization's 15-year history through multimedia materials. MakingJusticeWork.org, launched in May 2025 by the Global Initiative Against Impunity (GIAI), is a multilingual digital platform with over 400 accountability documents in Arabic, English, French, and Spanish. ECCHR Connect serves as the organization's alumni and network platform.

ECCHR operates under a 100% donation- and grant-funded revenue model with no commercial revenue streams. The organization is registered as a gemeinnützige (charitable) association under German law, governed by its founding members, and certified under the Initiative Transparente Zivilgesellschaft transparency standard. Distribution occurs through direct legal representation, partner referrals, public events, and digital communications including newsletters, social media (Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Spotify), publications, and reports. ECCHR is a founding member of the GIAI consortium (launched June 2024) alongside the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, contributing to a platform that includes over 400 key documents on international justice.

Name

ECCHR

Legal name

European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights e.V.

Website

https://ecchr.eu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

ECCHR is an independent, Berlin-based nonprofit founded in 2007 that uses strategic litigation and universal jurisdiction to pursue accountability for international crimes, serving survivors of human rights abuses globally and funded entirely by donations and grants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Berlin

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Donations and Grants: ECCHR is a nonprofit organization funded 100% through donations and grants. The organization does not generate commercial revenue from products or services.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels11 records

Core offering

ECCHR is a nonprofit, independent human rights organization that pursues strategic legal interventions to hold perpetrators of international crimes (torture, war crimes, crimes against humanity, corporate human rights abuses, border violations, and climate justice harms) accountable in German and European courts, often using universal jurisdiction principles. The organization combines direct litigation support for survivors and victims with capacity-building programs for young lawyers, cross-border case development with civil society partners, and forensic evidence production through the Investigative Commons. ECCHR is funded 100% through donations and grants and provides all of its legal services free of charge.

Product overview

ECCHR (European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights) is a nonprofit, independent human rights organization that does not offer commercial software products. Instead, it provides legal intervention services and educational programs focused on human rights enforcement. The core offerings include the Critical Legal Training program for young lawyers, an International Summer School on corporate responsibility and climate justice (with FAU and Tilburg Law School), the Investigative Commons (a joint initiative with Forensic Architecture/Forensis for legal investigations), the Living Open Archive (multimedia documentation), MakingJusticeWork.org (a 2025 digital justice resource platform launched by the Global Initiative Against Impunity), and ECCHR Connect (alumni network). These programs work together to advance strategic human rights litigation and accountability for international crimes.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Critical Legal Training A training program run under ECCHR's Institut für juristische Intervention (Institute for Legal Intervention) that develops strategic and critical progressive human rights work. The program focuses on passing on legal skills and building networks within the human rights community, targeting young lawyers seeking to pursue strategic litigation.
• International Summer School on Corporate Responsibility and Climate Justice An international summer school co-organized with Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and Tilburg Law School for human rights defenders and advanced students, focused on corporate responsibility and climate justice.
• Investigative Commons A joint project founded in 2020 with Forensic Architecture and its German sister agency Forensis to expand the production of forensic evidence beyond state-appointed experts and to utilize forums other than courts for accountability purposes, focusing on innovative methodologies for legal investigations.
• Living Open Archive A multimedia digital archive documenting ECCHR's 15-year history of human rights work, featuring multimedia contributions and detailed case documentation across the organization's thematic areas.
• MakingJusticeWork.org A multilingual digital platform designed to strengthen the work of justice actors engaged in the fight for accountability. Provides a Resource Library with over 400 documents, an interactive events calendar, and is available in Arabic, English, French, and Spanish.
• ECCHR Connect A network and alumni platform connecting former participants and supporters of ECCHR programs, including graduates of the Critical Legal Training program and other ECCHR training initiatives.

Quantifiable outcome

• World's first trial for state torture in Syria before OLG Koblenz
• +1 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Forensic Architecture and ForensiscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020ECCHR co-founded the Investigative Commons in 2020 with Forensic Architecture and its German sister agency Forensis to expand the production of forensic evidence and utilize forums beyond courts for accountability purposes. The partnership focuses on rethinking legal investigations through innovative methodologies.
• Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSyrians for Truth and Justice (STJ) partnered with ECCHR in January 2024 to file a criminal complaint with the German Federal Public Prosecutor regarding war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against the Kurdish population in Afrin, Syria, by Turkish-backed armed militias.
• Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerECCHR collaborates with CCR in New York on cases related to US torture program, providing support for survivors and coordinating international legal interventions against impunity for international crimes.
• Bertha Justice NetworkmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerECCHR participates in the Bertha Justice Network, which includes programs such as Bertha Justice Fellows and Bertha Global Exchange, supporting the next generation of human rights lawyers.
• BellingcatcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerECCHR works with Bellingcat's Justice & Accountability Unit on cases such as the Mariupol war crimes investigation, utilizing open-source research methodologies to identify perpetrators.
• Global Initiative Against Impunity (GIAI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGIAI is a civil-society-led consortium launched in June 2024 that seeks to enhance participation of victims and civil society organizations in accountability processes. ECCHR is a founding member of this four-year EU co-funded program.
• Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerECCHR collaborates with CICC as part of the Global Initiative Against Impunity, contributing to a platform with over 400 key documents on international justice and accountability.
• Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBCHR partnered with ECCHR in filing OECD complaints against Gamma International regarding surveillance technology exports to Bahrain that enabled human rights violations.
• Privacy InternationalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPrivacy International co-filed complaints with ECCHR against Gamma International at the UK OECD National Contact Point regarding surveillance technology exports violating human rights.
• Reporter ohne Grenzen (ROG)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerReporter ohne Grenzen partnered with ECCHR to file OECD complaints regarding surveillance technology exports enabling press freedom violations.
• Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and Tilburg Law SchoolminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerECCHR co-organizes an international Summer School with FAU and Tilburg Law School for human rights defenders and advanced students on corporate responsibility and climate justice.
• Cooperation with European LawyerscoreOthersECCHR works with cooperation lawyers Gonzalo Boye, William Bourdon, Walter van Steenbrugge, and Christophe Marchand on international legal interventions and strategic litigation.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Bellingcat: Open-source investigations organization whose Justice & Accountability Unit collaborates with ECCHR on cases like the Mariupol war crimes investigation; complementary capability rather than direct legal-service competition.
• Forensic Architecture: Research agency using architectural and visual investigations for human rights accountability; co-founder of the Investigative Commons with ECCHR — provides forensic evidence production that ECCHR integrates into legal interventions.
• Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ): Syria-focused documentation and justice organization that partnered with ECCHR on the Afrin criminal complaint. Smaller and more region-specific, but operates in the same accountability ecosystem and shared case work.

Broad incumbents

• Amnesty International: Global human rights NGO with substantially larger scale and broader remit (research, advocacy, campaigns). Overlaps with ECCHR in international justice and accountability work but does not specialize in strategic litigation via universal jurisdiction.
• Human Rights Watch: Large international human rights organization conducting research and advocacy on war crimes, torture, and corporate accountability. Operates more as a documentation and pressure entity rather than a direct litigator like ECCHR.
• Open Society Justice Initiative: Litigates strategic human rights cases internationally with substantial foundation backing (Open Society Foundations). Comparable in pursuing international justice and accountability but operates at larger scale and with broader thematic remit than ECCHR.

Direct peers

• Reprieve: UK-based NGO that provides strategic legal representation to victims of human rights abuses, including Guantanamo detainees and torture survivors — directly comparable survivor-centered litigation model and partner-network approach.
• Center for Constitutional Rights: US-based nonprofit that uses strategic litigation for human rights; ECCHR explicitly collaborates with CCR on US torture program cases and international accountability, with similar legal-intervention model and survivor-centered approach.
• Redress: London-based nonprofit specializing in strategic litigation for torture survivors and international accountability, with similar legal-intervention focus and survivor-centered representation as ECCHR.
• International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH): Paris-based federation of 192 human rights NGOs that litigates before international courts and supports strategic cases — closely comparable to ECCHR in mission, legal-intervention methodology, and global partner-network structure.

Market position

Strengths3 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/ecchrberlin
• Facebookfacebook.com/ecchr.eu
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/europeancenterforconstitutional&humanrights
• Instagraminstagram.com/ecchr.eu
• Xx.com/ecchrberlin

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about ECCHR