The Public Interest Litigation Project (PILP)

The Dutch section of the International Commission of Jurists (NJCM) started in May 2014 with the Public Interest Litigation Project (PILP). This is a two-year pilot, renewed with three more years, with which NJCM explores the possibilities of strategic litigation in the field of human rights in the Netherlands.

NJCM has defended human rights in the Netherlands already for four decades. Approximately thousand members do so by reviewing the compliance of new policies and legislative proposals with human rights standards set out in international and European treaties. Furthermore, the NJCM organizes meetings on current human rights affairs in order to enhance the knowledge of human rights of students and professionals.

Sometimes all of this is not enough.

Through strategic litigation a voice can be given to individuals and minorities. It can provide access to justice for those whose rights are at stake. Moreover, it can bring about lasting social and legal changes.

The adopted cases within PILP always involve one or more human rights and have the purpose of serving the general interest. Would you like to report a human rights case? Please fill in the ‘submit your case‘ form.

For a careful selection of cases a project board is established and is comprised of experts with various backgrounds: lawyers, academics, journalists and people from civil society. The project coordinator of PILP is lawyer Jelle Klaas. PILP is a project of the NJCM that is made possible by Open Society Foundations.

Make sure to regularly check out our website for more information on our projects, cases and partners of PILP.

Would you like to actively contribute to the protection of human rights in Netherlands? Then join the NJCM.