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May 18, 2006

Seminal Work on Reparations Makes Global Debut

Comprehensive Collection Examines Massive Reparations Programs Through a Transitional Justice Lens

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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Suzana Grego
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NEW YORK, May 18, 2006—The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) today announced its global launch of The Handbook of Reparations, a groundbreaking collection of essays analyzing massive reparations programs for victims of human rights violations published by Oxford University Press. Over the coming month, events in The Hague, Brussels, Geneva, and New York will publicize and celebrate this tremendous accomplishment, reaffirming the Center’s deep commitment to working on reparations programs all over the world as an integral part of its holistic approach to transitional justice.

At more than 1000 pages, this comprehensive study is the result of more than three years of intensive international and interdisciplinary research and the collaborative work of 27 authors from 14 countries. Written from a transitional justice perspective, the book employs a unique approach in examining national reparations programs by analyzing the experiences, needs, and impacts on victims.

“A great deal of attention has been paid to post-conflict or transitional countries’ attempts to prosecute human rights violations,” said Pablo de Greiff, ICTJ research director and the book’s primary editor. “Until now, much less attention has been paid to these countries’ efforts to provide reparations to large numbers of victims seeking redress. This is typical of the justice field, which tends to focus on struggles against perpetrators, rather than efforts on behalf of victims, and it is this gap that we wanted to address.”

While other efforts have focused on the judicial resolution of individual reparations claims, this is the first work to focus squarely on the attempts to provide reparations to victims of human rights violations through massive programs. In addition to its impressive scope, the book examines national reparations experiences that have never before been systematically assessed and analyzed.

The Handbook provides a broad range of essential information about past experiences with massive reparations programs as well as normative guidance for future practice. Organized around three main sections, the book delves into 11 case studies, 9 thematic studies, and numerous primary documents and legislation.

Focusing on such varied contexts as Chile, Malawi, the September 11 Fund, and post-war Germany, the case studies offer new information about programs in different parts of the world that have never before been analyzed. The thematic papers are no less groundbreaking, tackling theoretical and practical issues also rarely addressed but that arise in the design and implementation of reparations programs, including the impact of psychosocial interventions and the impact of reparations on gender justice.

“Three years ago it was impossible to find even basic information about reparations programs worldwide,” said de Greiff. “Confronted with this dearth of information, the ICTJ pioneered an ambitious research project to provide detailed information about these programs and at the same time, to stimulate thinking about which justice criteria can and should be applied to large numbers of claims. Benefiting from our ongoing in-country reparations work, The Handbook is the point at which theory, debate, and practical experience converge. Our hope and goal is that it will become a useful tool for future work on reparations.”

While noting the significant differences in country contexts, institutional frameworks, and resources, The Handbook of Reparations outlines some universal principles and guidelines. For example, all reparations efforts must define concepts and objectives clearly; address financial questions; respond fairly to massive numbers of victims and a range of violations; struggle to overcome disparities between victims; and establish close relations between reparations benefits and truth-seeking, prosecutions, and reform initiatives.

The ICTJ’s distinct approach to reparations has already significantly influenced a number of reparations efforts. The approach was adopted by: the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the chapter on reparations in its final report; the recent Commission on Illegal Detention and Torture in Chile; the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Sierra Leone; and in various international documents including Diane Orentlicher’s Joinet Principles on combating impunity. Most recently, the Center’s approach significantly influenced the design and implementation of the Moroccan truth commission’s reparations program.

The ICTJ hopes that The Handbook will become a standard reference for scholars, practitioners, government officials, policymakers, NGOs, and multilateral organizations as they seek to design, fund, and implement successful reparations programs.

The upcoming launches of The Handbook will feature panel discussions with some of the authors, other luminaries in the field, and ICTJ staff. The event at The Hague will take place on Monday, May 22. The Center’s new offices in Brussels and Geneva will host launches on June 7 and 8, respectively, with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, participating in the Geneva event. The New York City launch will take place in mid-June. More details will be made available shortly.

The Handbook of Reparations is available for purchase from Oxford University Press. Click here to read Pablo de Greiff’s “Introduction.”

The ICTJ’s Work on Reparations

The ICTJ views reparations as one of several key components of transitional justice. Ideally, reparations programs can offer a tangible response to the harms suffered by victims and restore the sense that they are legitimate rights-holders in society. The Center addresses how reparations policies can effectively satisfy victims’ rights to redress and relate to other transitional justice policies, while dealing realistically with an array of challenging contexts.

Through research and in-country work, the ICTJ has developed extensive expertise on reparations and demand for its services in this area continues to multiply. The Center’s work has influenced reparations debates, policy recommendations, and legislation in Ghana, Morocco, Peru, and Timor-Leste, as well as within the UN and the International Criminal Court. In the fall of 2005, the ICTJ's advice to the Moroccan truth commission influenced changes in awards of reparations to women, shifting the criteria away from inheritance law to criteria based on their equality as human beings and on the nature and degree of the wrongs they had suffered. Other recent requests for the Center’s assistance have come from Canada, Colombia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Iraq, and the Philippines.

The ICTJ also addresses reparations in its fellowships and other training programs, which feed into ongoing advocacy efforts in participants’ home countries. Through its work with local partners, the Center has developed local capacity on reparations, particularly in Latin America and Morocco. The ICTJ has initiated a very successful collaboration on reparations with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The Center will soon publish a book-length case study on reparations in Peru, and is breaking new ground on such issues as gender and reparations. In April 2006, the ICTJ released a series of case study summaries on Gender and Reparations, in advance of the publication of a comprehensive book on the topic in late 2006.

About the ICTJ

The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) assists countries pursuing accountability for past mass atrocity or human rights abuse. The Center works in societies emerging from repressive rule or armed conflict, as well as in established democracies where historical injustices or systemic abuse remain unresolved.

In order to promote justice, peace, and reconciliation, government officials and nongovernmental advocates are likely to consider a variety of transitional justice approaches including both judicial and nonjudicial responses to human rights crimes. The ICTJ assists in the development of integrated, comprehensive, and localized approaches to transitional justice comprising five key elements: prosecuting perpetrators, documenting and acknowledging violations through non-judicial means such as truth commissions, reforming abusive institutions, providing reparations to victims, and facilitating reconciliation processes.

The Center is committed to building local capacity and generally strengthening the emerging field of transitional justice, and works closely with organizations and experts around the world to do so. By working in the field through local languages, the ICTJ provides comparative information, legal and policy analysis, documentation, and strategic research to justice and truth-seeking institutions, nongovernmental organizations, governments and others.