International Human Rights
From the courtrooms of the United States to displaced persons camps in Syria, Jenner & Block lawyers worked to secure safety, accountability, and a path forward for survivors of conflict and persecution.
After more than four decades, a federal court ruled that a former Salvadoran colonel living in the United States cannot escape accountability for the killing of four journalists during El Salvador’s civil war. As a result of the firm’s work with the Center for Justice and accountability, Jenner & Block was named CJA’s 2026 Partner in Justice. Partner Jason Hipp, Washington, DC Office Managing Partner Lindsay Harrison, and Associate Lawrence McMahon discuss the impact of this work.
Federal Court Clears Path to Justice in Historic Human Rights Case
In a landmark human rights victory, a federal judge rejected repeated attempts by a former Salvadoran military colonel to escape accountability for the 1982 killing of four Dutch journalists during El Salvador’s civil war between 1979 and 1992, in which more than 75,000 civilians were killed and roughly 8,000 disappeared.
The court’s comprehensive decision struck down defenses ranging from sovereign immunity to the retroactive application of the 1991 Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA). By denying all grounds for dismissal, the court delivered a decisive win on core issues in international human rights litigation—ending decades of impunity and affirming that Kuiper’s case will be heard on the merits.
The team included Partner Jason Hipp, with support from Associates Christina Isnardi, Lawrence McMahon, and Zoë Reinstein, along with co-counsel from the Center for Justice and Accountability, Carmen Cheung Ka-Man, Claret Vargas, and Daniel McLaughlin.
Lifeline: An Ambulance Driver’s Journey to Asylum
Before the war in Gaza, our client drove ambulances for Doctors Without Borders in the region. When conflict broke out in October 2023, he became something else entirely: a lifeline for the people around him. Jenner & Block would later take on his case pro bono, helping him navigate the complex path to asylum in the United States.
As bombing intensified, our client helped his Doctors Without Borders colleagues flee to the Khan Younis Training Center, driving vehicles through active conflict zones to get them to safety. When supplies began running low and tensions rose, he defused threats against his foreign colleagues peacefully. When food and water ran out, he drove through fighting and bombing to find provisions for his family and coworkers. Tragically, many of his extended family members did not survive the airstrikes.
Working with the Special Operations Association of America (SOAA), our client drove through heavy bombing to rescue the mother and uncle of an American soldier—family members trapped in Gaza whose father had already been killed by a gunshot wound. He got them safely out of Gaza and into Egypt. When the Rafah border crossing opened, our client personally shepherded his Doctors Without Borders colleagues through, speaking with officials and ensuring every colleague made it onto a bus before seeing to his own family’s escape.
Our client entered the United States on a valid visa in early 2025. Unfortunately, a law in Egypt that barred entry to all Palestinian men between 18 and 40 prevented him from returning to his family. Knowing he could not safely return to Gaza and had no long-term status elsewhere, the Jenner team counseled him to affirmatively apply for asylum—a decision that carried profound personal cost. Filing meant potentially years of separation from his wife and children while his claim was adjudicated. Our client made the difficult choice to move forward.
The team filed his asylum application in June 2025. Six months later, they filed for work authorization—and despite delays and a challenging adjudication environment, secured his Employment Authorization Document in early 2026. Since then, they have obtained a Social Security Number for our client and helped him successfully apply for a REAL ID. His asylum application remains pending as affirmative asylum cases nationwide have been paused.
Our client’s case reflects both the human cost of the conflict in Gaza and the complex, often uncertain path that awaits those who seek protection in the United States. For a man who risked his life repeatedly to protect others—colleagues, strangers, and an American soldier’s family—the road to safety has been anything but straightforward.
The Jenner team included Partner Sati Harutyunyan, Associate Carolina Abboud, Legal Practice Assistant Shoeba Hassan, and Project Coordinator Sabrin Ali.
A Family’s Path from Gaza to Safety
A family had spent their entire lives in Gaza before having to flee the war in November 2023. After a year in Egypt, a Jenner & Block team secured the family a rarely granted humanitarian parole status, allowing them to travel to the United States with their two young children and settle with family there. However, abrupt changes in the legal landscape left the family suddenly vulnerable to removal.
With their status now in jeopardy, a cross-office Jenner team moved quickly—interviewing the family, gathering documents, and navigating a complex application process—to file for asylum. The family has a substantial basis for their claim rooted in their experiences in Gaza, and the filing both advances that case and protects them from removal while it remains pending.
The team includes Partner Sarah Weiss, Associates Molly Oberstein-Allen, Emma O’Connor, Alex Ramsey, and Gabriela Romero, and former associate Sophia Cai.
Resettlement of Three American Children from Displaced Persons Camp in Syria
Jenner & Block Special Counsel Ian Moss represented three dual national American-Polish children who had lived for years in a Northeast Syria displaced persons camp without access to education, psychosocial support, or medical care, and at risk of extremist violence. Following months of advocacy by Jenner lawyers, the Department of State facilitated the children’s resettlement in Poland with their mother in fall 2025. The timing was critical: a significant security breakdown at the camp occurred just months later, placing the many remaining children in direct danger from ISIS.
Center for Victims of Torture Amicus Curiae Brief
In January 2025, on behalf of the Center for Victims of Torture (CVT)—the oldest and largest torture rehabilitation organization in the United States—Partners Katya Jestin and Matthew Hellman, Special Counsel Ian Moss, and Associate Mary-Claire Spurgin filed an amicus brief in support of a petition for mandamus to the DC Circuit. The amicus brief advocated for the reinstatement of plea agreements entered by the accused co-conspirators of the 9/11 attacks in the 9/11 Guantanamo Military Commission case. In August 2024, the plea agreements were unilaterally withdrawn by then Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, which resulted in litigation before the DC circuit seeking their reinstatement. CVT argued that reinstatement of the guilty pleas and associated agreements were in the public interest and the best way to achieve judicial finality for all parties involved given that the 9/11 case has been mired in seemingly interminable pre-trial litigation related to the well-documented torture of the accused 9/11 co-conspirators while in US custody. CVT argued that the plea agreements served as the best path to achieve a modicum of justice for 9/11 victim family members and society, while also providing accountability for the torture of the accused by US personnel.
Strategic Counsel for Global Free-Speech Advocacy
Jenner & Block acts as a long-standing strategic adviser to Index on Censorship, a prominent global NGO dedicated to advancing free speech and combating censorship worldwide. Our role includes regular counsel to the organisation’s CEO on its international initiatives, drawing on our extensive work in human rights and international law. This sustained advisory relationship positions our team at the centre of one of the most consequential political and legal issues of our time, reinforcing Jenner & Block’s reputation as a preeminent adviser on matters of global significance.
This work is led by London Office Managing Partner Christine Braamskamp and Partners Lucy Blake and Rob Dalling.
Settlement Helps Afghanistan’s First Private, Not-For-Profit University
A Jenner & Block team secured a settlement for the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF), providing funds for AUAF to continue educating Afghanistan women and men at a critical time.
Thanks in part to this critical settlement, AUAF is continuing to educate Afghan students who are otherwise shut out of university opportunities in their home country.
The team that worked on this case includes Associate Kristen Green, Partners Todd Toral and Zeb Zankel, and Associates Elizabeth Avunjian and Hallie Moor.