The Open Society Foundations have awarded the Vance Center a three-year grant to support its pro bono representation of journalism, human rights defense, and anti-corruption activism. These are core focuses of the Vance Center’s support of civil society throughout the world.
The Vance Center’s Good Governance Program advises and assists investigative journalism organizations like the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, Arab Reporters of Investigative Journalism, First Look Media Works and Bellingcat, among others. It also works with A Culture of Safety Alliance, the Digital Freedom Fund, and the Pulitzer Center. Matters include defamation, intellectual property, corporate governance, and journalistic collaboration.
The Vance Center’s Human Rights and Access to Justice Program similarly supports organizations like Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (Colombia), Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Due Process of Law Foundation, Chapter 4 – Uganda, the Africa Prison Project, the Due Process of Law Foundation, the Autonomous Movement of Nicaraguan Women, and Asistencia Legal para la Diversidad Sexual – El Salvador in the areas like LGBT rights and women’s rights.
The Vance Center’s work against corruption involves all of its programs, including the Lawyers Council for Civil and Economic Rights in the Americas, an initiative seeking sustainable solutions to systemic challenges to civil society and the rule of law in Latin America. The Lawyers Council is working with several Latin American chapters of Transparency International on promoting judicial independence and the integrity of lawyers and businesses.
