Reparations constitutes a critical dimension of transitional justice, the one that focuses most specifically on the recognition of victims' rights and the harms they suffer. ICTJ's work on reparations policy and implementation wrestles with the difficult question of how the right to reparations can be meaningful and effective in practice through approaches that repair harm and ensure respect for rights and human dignity. Differences in country contexts, institutional frameworks, and the availability of resources require a nuanced approach and call for varied policy options.

The issue of reparations often emerges as a demand in post-dictatorship and post-conflict societies, but it also surfaces in the context of unresolved historic injustices, in negotiations to settle armed conflicts, and in judicial settings. Yet the challenges are similar across these different contexts: defining concepts and objectives clearly; addressing financial questions; responding fairly to massive numbers of victims and a range of violations; attending to gender and other disparities; and reinforcing victims' dignity by relating reparations to truth-seeking, accountability, and reform, as well as to national agendas for social change that will advance victims' rights and prevent further abuses.

ICTJ's groundbreaking studies on reparations programs and critical issues in this field, coupled with in-depth country work on reparations policy and implementation, are helping to develop this important aspect of transitional justice. Through an experienced reparations team and consultants, ICTJ provides technical assistance and policy input to its regional and country experts and to partners in countries where reparations are on the transitional justice agenda. It continues to develop reparations programs and advance research on reparations in specific countries and on cross-cutting issues. ICTJ's Reparations Unit is also building networks of reparations practitioners with diverse expertise and experience across regions and disciplines.

Reparations Research and Publications

ICTJ's Research Unit has published two volumes on reparations. The Handbook of Reparations, edited by Research Director Pablo de Greiff and published in May 2006, presents in-depth case studies and discussion of key themes. In December 2006 the ICTJ released What Happened to the Women? Gender and Reparations for Human Rights Violations. Edited by Ruth Rubio Marín, this volume explores policies in Guatemala, Peru, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, and Timor-Leste. Thematic studies on gender and reparations are under way.

The Research Unit collaborated with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to develop a "tool document" on reparations that was launched in Bogotá in early 2008. Through targeted studies the Research Unit is also exploring connections between reparations and disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration; transitional justice and development; and transitional justice and identity.

ICTJ's program work in Peru led to publications on a number of topics, including parameters for reparations design (2002); the purpose and characteristics of a National Victim Registry (2004); and the reparations process in Peru (2006). In 2004, the Research Unit and the Prosecutions Unit (De Greiff and Senior Associate Marieke Wierda) produced a paper, "Reparations and the International Criminal Court: A Prospective Role for the Trust Fund for Victims." And in 2007, ICTJ launched its "Reparative Justice Series" with a general paper, "Reparations in Theory and Practice," followed by "Reparation and the Darfur Peace Process: Ensuring Victims' Rights."

In 2008, the Reparations Unit explored the issue of financing reparations, and produced the paper "Plunder and Pain: Should Transitional Justice Engage with Corruption and Economic Crimes?" (Ruben Carranza). The Reparations Unit's article "Reparations and Victim Participation: A Look at the Truth Commission Experience," appeared in the book Reparations for Victims of Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity. The article explores various elements of victim participation in forming reparations policy and how to make participation occur in effective and empowering ways. The Reparations Unit also produced a number of papers regarding possibilities for reparations as part of the Extraordinary Chamber for the Courts of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge trials. And in 2009, the Reparations Unit presented the Sierra Leonean government with a paper which analyzes Sierra Leone's reparations implementation process and makes recommendations on future policy. ICTJ published consultant Ruth Rubio-Marin's book, The Gender of Reparations; Unsettling Sexual Hierarchies while Redressing Human Rights Violations in collaboration with Cambridge University Press in July 2009.

Activities - Assisting Local Actors

Through its country work, ICTJ has assisted local actors in framing reparations questions appropriate to their situation while sharing relevant information and analysis on prior and contemporary experiences in reparations design, implementation, and cross-cutting themes. In several regions, ICTJ Reparations Unit has worked closely with victims' groups and nongovernmental institutions involved in reparations advocacy and has provided technical assistance and comparative analysis to state institutions, the UN, and international and hybrid human rights courts involved in reparations policy-making and implementation.

Latin America

In Latin America, ICTJ has worked in Peru, Chile, Colombia, and Guatemala. In Peru, ICTJ advised the TRC, human rights organizations, and victims' groups on drafts and facilitated communications about policy options and demands. ICTJ assisted these groups through consultants, our Lima-based associate, and staff in developing strategies for policy design and implementation. Once legislation passed in 2005, ICTJ continued to work toward implementation with local actors. Since late 2006, it has provided technical assistance to the National Reparations Council, including a workshop to exchange experiences on implementing reparations with practitioners from Guatemala, Argentina, and Chile. ICTJ has also worked with local human rights NGOs to monitor independently the implementation of collective reparations. Currently, ICTJ is providing technical support to civil society groups, advocating for individual financial reparations and healthcare as reparations. ICTJ is working with NGOs to facilitate the participation of victims' organizations in the implementation of the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Comprehensive Reparations Plan that was launched in June 2009.

In Colombia -- where the demand for reparation has arisen in connection with the Justice and Peace Law intended to facilitate the demobilization of paramilitary groups -- ICTJ has organized a variety of activities, including workshops on reparations, with legislators, government officials, victims' groups, and NGO representatives. In 2006, ICTJ provided technical assistance to the National Commission on Reparations and Reconciliation.

Asia

In Asia, ICTJ has worked in Nepal, Indonesia and Timor-Leste. In Nepal, ICTJ organized two reparations workshops with the Kathmandu office for both civil society and victims' groups and the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction's Relief and Reconstruction unit, and met with key donors and policymakers to discuss issues of reparation.

In Indonesia, individual reparations have been awarded to "war affected" victims. A communal reparations program was ended due to corruption, and victims of sexual violence continue to be neglected by reparations programs. ICTJ has led a number of workshops on reparations in Indonesia, including a 2-day workshop which it co-led with the Women's Commission in 2007 and a presentation on transitional justice, reparations and security sector reform as part of a course hosted by the Jakarta office for NGOs in Bali, and participated in various workshops that ask "Are reparations possible in the context of impunity?" ICTJ has also met with local actors in Indonesia, including the Aceh Reintegration Authority (BRA), who is administering reparations, and civil society representatives and activists.

In Timor-Leste, ICTJ has provided assistance on draft policy proposals on reparations. ICTJ has also met with interested parties in Timor-Leste, including victims groups. More recent work has focused on extending benefits to excluded groups, particularly victims of sexual violence. In April of 2009, ICTJ worked with the reparations working group to draft a paper which they will submit to the Timor-Leste government through its Ministry of Social Solidarity (MSS), proposing that ongoing and forthcoming MSS-implemented social assistance programs be inclusive so that ‘the most vulnerable' victims of human rights violations (including victims of sexual violence) will be covered.

Africa

In Africa, the Reparations Unit is involved in a number of regions including Kenya, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Sudan. In Kenya, the Reparations Unit worked with other ICTJ staff to provide commentary on the proposed Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission Law in 2008.

Sierra Leone is at the implementation stage of its reparations process. The Reparations Unit conducted a workshop with civil society organizations about the process of participating in the implementation of reparations programs. ICTJ has met with Sierra Leonean officials involved in the implementation process, and monitored victim registration. Based on observations of the registration process and implementation of reparations policy in Sierra Leone generally, ICTJ submitted a report to the National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) of the Government of Sierra Leone, the reparations implementation agency, with recommendations on future implementation and funding of reparations in Sierra Leone. The report has also been submitted to local civil society and the Steering Committee of the UN Peacebuilding fund, which has funded some reparations in Sierra Leone.

The Middle East

In Palestine, ICTJ has provided technical assistance on the implementation of the UN Registry program. The Reparations Unit worked with the Middle East and North Africa Program to review documents regarding implementation and provide feedback to partner organizations.

Network Meetings:

ICTJ has lead regional and international meetings on reparations to promote the exchange of experience and insights. In October 2007 ICTJ, the West Africa Civil Society Institute, and the Center for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation organized a working group meeting in Accra, Ghana, among victims' groups, reparation advocates, and representatives of state institutions implementing reparation policy, along with representatives from Liberia, whose truth commission is charged with formulating recommendations on reparations. In June of 2008, the Reparations Unit organized a two day West Africa network meeting on reparations in Monrovia. The meeting included participants from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ghana.

ICTJ held similar regional exchanges of experience and insights in Asia and the Middle East. In July 2007 in Amman, Jordan, ICTJ's Reparations Unit and Middle East/North Africa Unit, in coordination with the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), held a workshop on the goals and challenges of reparation as a transitional justice measure in Iraq. The workshop featured an exchange of experiences among Iraqi and Kurdish policymakers and resource persons from Morocco's Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER) and other international and ICTJ experts. The IER's experience has been of particular interest, given its plan for individual and community-based reparations that include health care, community projects, commemoration, and compensation, along with other measures. Likewise, the IER's approach to gender and reparations is a highlight of its reparations program.

Finally, in February 2009, ICTJ held a three day conference on collective reparations in Rabat, Morocco. The International Meeting on Collective Reparations was co-organized by the Advisory Council on Human Rights of Morocco and ICTJ in order to focus on the many questions and unresolved approaches to reparations in their collective dimension. The meeting sought to bring together victim advocates and government representatives from around the world to share their experiences on the ground, debate best practices, and generate new ideas to meet the numerous challenges of collective reparations, in a roundtable format.

Working with International and Hybrid Courts

ICTJ has been engaged in helping to define the parameters and address the challenges of dealing with massive reparations claims in the context of human rights and war crimes litigation. In 2006 and 2007 ICTJ provided comparative information to key actors on the development of regulations for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia for the Prosecution of Crimes Committed during the Period of Democratic Kampuchea (ECCC). In February 2008 ICTJ staff from the Reparations and Prosecutions Units held a seminar in Phnom Penh for ECCC judges to explore the court's mandate to award "collective and moral reparations" and conducted a workshop with Cambodian civil society representatives on reparations for victims of the Khmer Rouge regime. In the summer of 2009, the ICTJ the Reparations Unit began working with the Prosecutions Unit (Caitlin Reiger) and the clinic at Texas Law School to produce a brief which will guide the court on the possibilities for reparations as an outcome of ECCC proceedings in Cambodia.

Similarly, the Center has participated in discussions about how the International Criminal Court should deal with assistance to victims and provide reparations through its Trust Fund for Victims.

Making Knowledge about Reparations Accessible

ICTJ has made a particular effort to provide information in a range of languages about reparation experiences in different parts of the world and analysis of cross-cutting issues. Documents that summarize the experience of various reparations programs or provide an overview of reparations theory and practice have been translated into several languages besides English, including French, Spanish, Arabic, Serb, Turkish, and Bahasa Indonesia.

(Updated November 2009)