George Clooney. Photo: Fabian Strauch / EPA-EFE
Russia has declared Hollywood actor George Clooney’s charitable foundation to be an “undesirable organisation”, effectively banning it from operating in the country, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement on Monday.
The Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ), which was established by Clooney and his wife, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, in 2016 to investigate human rights abuses around the world, was “carrying out work aimed at discrediting Russia on a Hollywood scale”, the statement said, adding that it actively supported “false patriots who have left the country, members of banned extremist associations and terrorist organisations”.
“As an organisation that fights for justice and human rights in over 40 countries around the world, we know that our path is fraught with challenges,” the CFJ told Novaya Gazeta Europe, pledging that it would “continue to work for a world where human rights are protected and no one is above the law”.
According to the CFJ website, since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the foundation has been “gathering evidence of war crimes to trigger criminal prosecutions and bring justice to the survivors.”
“We have documented indiscriminate attacks that killed civilians, destroyed civilian objects, as well as executions, enforced disappearances, torture, sexual violence, looting and other crimes committed by Russian forces,” the website says.
In July, the CFJ, along with several other non-governmental organisations, filed a case with the UN Human Rights Committee, accusing Russia of violating the human rights of Ukrainians killed in a 2022 missile attack on Vinnytsia.
In Russia, any undesirable organisation is legally obliged to dissolve itself and private citizens cannot have any involvement in their activities. To date over 180 organisations have been deemed “undesirable” by the Russian government, including Novaya Gazeta Europe, human rights organisation Memorial, and the Free Russia Foundation.
