What is the Global Initiative Against Impunity?
Explainer
The Global Initiative Against Impunity for International Crimes and Serious Human Rights Violations: Making Justice Work is a four-year, European Union–co-funded partnership among nine civil society organizations and two associate partners.
Together, the consortium works to address the global rise in impunity by advancing accountability for grave crimes — including genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, the crime of aggression, and serious human rights violations such as torture and enforced disappearance.
Each partner contributes its regional and thematic expertise to strengthen inclusive, survivor-centered justice processes. The initiative focuses on 27 countries across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, while promoting accountability and atrocity prevention worldwide.
The partnership includes: Civil Rights Defenders, Coalition for the International Criminal Court, European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), Impunity Watch, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Parliamentarians for Global Action, REDRESS, TRIAL International, and Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice, supported by the Auschwitz Institute for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities and the International Commission of Jurists.
The initiative’s strategy is guided by a survivor-centered, trauma-informed, and gender-responsive approach, rooted in feminist principles of equality and justice. It focuses on two core goals:
- Enhancing victims’ and civil society’s agency and participation in shaping inclusive justice and accountability processes, as their exclusion undermines prospects for achieving meaningful justice and sustainable change.
- Strengthening the effectiveness of the accountability frameworks and systems to fight impunity through dialogue, advocacy and awareness raising between justice providers and duty-bearers with survivors and civil society organisations.
Why this matters
- Human impact: Survivors’ participation in justice processes is essential for meaningful accountability, individual empowerment, and long-term healing.
- International law relevance: The initiative reinforces the Rome Statute, Geneva Conventions, and customary international law obligations to investigate and prosecute core crimes.
- Systemic change: By challenging structural impunity and exclusion, this partnership builds legitimate, inclusive justice systems responsive to survivors’ experiences and needs.
What We Do as a GIAI Partner
As a consortium member, Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice brings feminist legal expertise and survivor-centered advocacy to ensure gender justice remains integral to global accountability efforts.
Legal Research & Analysis
WIGJ leads the gender participatory process within the Global Initiative Against Impunity, ensuring that gender-competent and intersectional approaches guide all consortium activities. We contribute feminist legal and policy expertise to research, reports, and dialogues, and we are developing an internal guidance note on gender-competent and intersectional approaches for GIAI partners.
Our team also contributes to the creation of a survivor engagement protocol, advancing trauma-informed and ethical practices for collaboration across the consortium.
Advocacy & Policy
Current objectives:
- Ensure gender-based and reproductive violence are consistently addressed in global accountability frameworks.
- Provide feminist analysis and recommendations for national, hybrid, and international justice mechanisms.
- Support survivor participation and leadership within the GIAI’s programs and country-level work.
- Strengthen cross-regional coordination and knowledge sharing among civil society partners.
Recent engagements:
- Joint Civil Society Statement for the Day of International Criminal Justice 2025,
- Launched MakingJusticeWork.org, a collaborative hub for global justice tools and resources.
Solidarity and Network-Building
Within the GIAI, WIGJ collaborates with survivor-led organizations, feminist legal practitioners, and global accountability networks including Impunity Watch, TRIAL International, and FIDH.
Our approach is grounded in shared power, intersectionality, and survivor leadership, ensuring that those most affected by international crimes actively shape justice processes.
Impact highlights
- Mainstreamed feminist and survivor-centered approaches within the GIAI framework, embedding gender analysis across consortium programming.
- Contributed legal and policy expertise informing the initiative’s cross-regional accountability work and survivor-centered methodologies.
- Elevated survivor and feminist voices through joint advocacy, publications, and international policy dialogues.
- Strengthened collaboration among consortium members to connect ICC-level advocacy with broader global accountability systems.
Subtopics
- Intersectionality
- Solidarity/Movement Building
