Justice Rapid Response (JRR) is pleased to announce that it has been selected to join the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation. The Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation is a global venture philanthropy firm supporting early stage, high impact social enterprises with three 3-years of support including a $300,000 grant and participation on the organization’s board of directors.
JRR’s vision is to have the worst crimes known to humanity investigated at the same standard that is expected for any ordinary crime under domestic jurisdiction. We will not be able to deal effectively with mass atrocities until we can ensure that the information which prosecutors, judges, or commissioners rely on to make decisions, is reliably, promptly, professionally and impartially gathered, preserved and reported.
Our long-term strategy is to spread the standard we have established for what international investigations need to be, in order to ensure the credibility of accountability for mass atrocities. JRR’s standard is our rigorous recruiting, training, and rostering of human rights and criminal justice professionals from around the world and our mechanism to deploy them rapidly. Our aim is to have our standard of professionalism, training, diversity and promptness applied by every entity that is involved with the investigation of mass atrocities. By helping to ensure investigations are conducted to our standard, JRR can bring justice to victims, deter would-be offenders and help end the many cycles of violence around the world.
Justice Rapid Response was established by States from Global North and South to improve the ability of the international community to end impunity for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and serious human rights violations. In less than six years of operations, JRR has assisted States, international institutions and regional organizations in almost 60 investigations around the world. Demand for JRR’s services continues to grow at a rate of more than 30% per year.In order to meet this demand, JRR continuously recruits professionals from around the world and certifies the best to its roster through training courses held in every region. JRR currently has over 550 experts of 60 professional categories, from 95 countries speaking over 80 languages.JRR’s roster is more than 40% from the global South and over 53% women, ensuring cultural, legal and linguistic diversity for any investigation.
Andras Vamos-Goldman is the Executive Director of Justice Rapid Response and took JRR from its original idea to reality, making it operational in 2009. Andras is an Ashoka fellow and a regular speaker on issues related to the effective delivery of international justice.An international lawyer and Canadian diplomat, Andras’ involvement with international criminal justice dates back to the establishment of the Sierra Leone Special Court and the creation of the International Criminal Court.
Founded in 2002, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation has funded over 82 social entrepreneurs operating both domestically and internationally. They provide unrestricted, multi-year capital to help their portfolio organizations build capacity to scale their impact. Draper Richards Kaplan will also take a board seat for the three-year grant cycle to provide hands-on support to the leader. Some of the earlier organizations supported by Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation include Room to Read, Kiva, GrassRoots Soccer, One Acre Fund, The Mission Continues, Food Corp and many others.
For information about Justice Rapid Response, please contact: Vicky Edgecombe, Outreach and Communications Manager, v.edgecombe@justicerapidresponse.org
For information about DRK, please contact: Nancy Huang, Director of Outreach, nancy@drkfoundation.org