Special focus: US Accountability, Reparations, transitional justice in established democracies

Lisa Magarrell is currently Director of US Programs at the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) in its New York office, with a focus on accountability for human rights abuses in US counterterrorism operations and on community-based truth-seeking initiatives to address systemic racism. She is on temporary leave from her post as Director of ICTJ’s Reparations Unit. Since joining ICTJ in 2001 she has worked on reparations issues in relation to a number of countries, including Ghana, Guatemala, Liberia, Peru, Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste, and in connection with the Trust Fund for Victims of the International Criminal Court. She led ICTJ’s technical assistance on truth-seeking, justice and reparations in Peru for several years and served as advisor to the Greensboro (North Carolina) Truth and Reconciliation Commission and its founding grassroots project. Ms. Magarrell also served as a resource for policymakers and the Assembly of First Nations in Canada as they moved toward a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address the legacy of forced residential schooling of aboriginal children. She has written widely on transitional justice issues. Her human rights work prior to joining ICTJ includes representation of asylum seekers and migrant farm-workers in the U.S., human rights documentation and advocacy work with the Non-governmental Human Rights Commission of El Salvador (CDHES-NG) and verification of human rights and other peace agreements in Guatemala as a UN political affairs officer. She has law degrees from the U.S. and El Salvador, and an LL.M. from Columbia University with a focus on human rights and international law.