WHAT IS THE GLOBAL ACCOUNTABILITY NETWORK?
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GAN is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in the United States. GAN’s mission is to secure justice for victims of atrocity crimes across the globe through the rule of law. Atrocity crimes often include torture, genocide, persecution, and other war crimes and crimes against humanity which violate international criminal law (ICL). GAN is comprised of a large network of law and graduate student volunteers directed by a board of former international prosecutors and attorneys well versed in ICL. Using its proprietary “Accountability System,” GAN has catalogued and analyzed hundreds of thousands of pages of documentation of atrocity situations. By distilling this data into an actionable format, GAN emboldens prosecutors around the world to bring criminal cases against dictators, terrorists, warlords, and their henchmen.
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MISSION
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To deter future actors from resorting to the victimization of civilians as a weapon of war by combatting impunity and securing justice for the victims of atrocity situations worldwide.
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VISION
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Developing Human Assets: Organizing training events, authoring manuals, and performing other activities aimed at assisting individuals in the impartial documentation and analysis of potential war crimes and crimes against humanity occurring in the context of any atrocity situation worldwide.
The Formation of Competent Tribunals: In atrocity situations where a referral to the International Criminal Court is impossible or inadvisable, providing materials and information to key policy makers demonstrating the necessity and plausibility of forming tribunals which will ensure that justice can be achieved for victims of atrocity crimes.
Supporting Meaningful Convictions: Supporting future prosecution efforts through regular reporting, professional documentation, investigation, and analysis of potential incidents within atrocity situations.
OUR WORK: GAN'S ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM
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GAN's Accountability System was forged upon the groundbreaking methods employed by GAN’s founder, David Crane, in the successful investigations and indictments prosecuted before The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL). Based upon this system, each of GAN's Accountability Projects follows the same basic operational structure.
Through the historic indictment of Charles Taylor, the then sitting President of Liberia, Crane and his team at the SCSL dealt the final blow to the concept of head of state immunity for international crimes, affirming a key principle of International Humanitarian Law established by the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. Crane and his team also conducted face-to-face meetings with victims as part of an unprecedented nationwide outreach effort. Using this strategy, Crane ensured his indictments were representative of the wrongs endured by the victims and that the justice his team sought was the justice the victims wanted.
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GAN's proprietary Accountability System is a model for the analysis and cataloguing of the typically voluminous evidence against atrocity criminals into an actionable format which stakeholders can use to intelligently plan further evidence-gathering operations. GAN's Support Chapters at law schools worldwide begin by producing a series of cornerstone documents, including a chronological conflict narrative and a crime base matrix. From these cornerstone documents, GAN creates actionable dossiers focused upon the Most Responsible Parties (MRP) and most egregious incidents (MEI) of each atrocity situation.
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Once sufficient evidence has been gathered, each Accountability Project concludes with a sample indictment detailing the strongest possible cases against atrocity criminals. Each allegation in GAN’s sample indictments is annotated to catalogue the available evidence supporting the allegation and to identify any additional evidence necessary to support a trial-ready case.
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Applying Crane’s groundbreaking, victim-focused philosophies, GAN's sample indictments also ensure that charging instruments adequately reflect the harms suffered by victims in each geographic region of the affected country. GAN’s cornerstone documents empower prosecutors around the world to ensure that atrocity criminals have nowhere to hide from justice because they can be held accountable wherever and whenever they may be found.
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As of now, GAN manages ongoing Accountability Projects in Syria, Yemen, Ukraine, and Venezuela, with several more on the way!
