Last week, the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) was invited to speak at the Commonwealth Club in a panel discussion entitled “The Human Rights Foundation and Justice in Syria.” The conversation featured HRF Chief Advocacy Officer Roberto González and HRF Director of Policy and Research Malaak Jamal as speakers, and Founder and CEO of Career Girls Linda Calhoun as the moderator.

The panel touched on HRF’s mission statement and programs, including Impact Litigation, Celebrities and Dictators, and the newly announced Defund Dictators Tool, as well as HRF’s annual global conference, the Oslo Freedom Forum. The conversation also included a deep dive into HRF’s most recent report, “Framing Justice in Syria: The Road Toward Comprehensive Justice” — a collaboration with The Syria Campaign — which provides a comprehensive overview of domestic and international judicial avenues to prosecute the crimes against humanity committed in Syria. The panel discussed the interviews conducted with Syrian activists, survivors, family members of disappeared Syrians, legal practitioners, scholars, and tech experts that informed the report. It also addressed the Koblenz Trial, which was used as a case study to assess the advantages and limitations of universal jurisdiction when holding the Syrian regime accountable and building justice for Syria. Lastly, González noted the privilege of working with HRF’s community members who “risk it all for a cause higher than themselves.”

Watch “The Human Rights Foundation and Justice in Syria”