Transitional justice is perhaps best understood as a movement, not as a single event or a process. Wherever victims and societies want to confront massive atrocities that occurred there will be opposition that is at least as strong in denying that aim. Efforts to address massive human rights abuses have to be understood as a kind of transformative rite of passage, as key actors in civil society insist on the centrality of justice and dignity in the way the country goes forward. ICTJ puts enormous emphasis on the participation of victims and wide swaths of the public in transitional justice efforts wherever it works. It cannot be left up to governments alone.

All of our engagements over the past 15 years could be highlighted as they have included the work on ensuring participation of victims, civil society and especially vulnerable, marginalized groups in transitional justice processes. Representative examples include the work ICTJ has done in Tunisia, where together with our international and local partners, ICTJ participated in the launch of the national consultation on transitional justice, and provided support to the technical committee responsible for turning the results of the national dialogue into the country’s historic law on transitional justice. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we facilitated greater collaboration between civil society organizations, prosecutors, and magistrates on the prosecution of international crimes. Since civil society organizations are the closest to – and often work among - communities affected by the most serious crimes, they are best placed to inform magistrates about violations committed and public expectations for the judicial response.

In Côte d’Ivoire, ICTJ organized consultations in a number of regions, providing victims with forums to discuss their needs and effectively formulate their demands for reparations from the government. Participants discussed the consequences of the conflict, the obstacles they now face as a result, and what sorts of policies were needed. Forums included men, women, and youth, reflecting the diversity of experiences and the needs that manifest themselves in communities today.

In Kenya, ICTJ comprehensively studied the reparative needs of victims of human rights violations from the 1950s to 2008. For the first time, victims voiced their opinions on the direction of Kenya’s unfolding transitional justice process. An ICTJ report, titled To Live as Other Kenyans Do: A Study of the Reparative Demands of Kenyan Victims of Human Rights Violations (2011), has been influential for Kenyan civil society efforts in drafting a reparations framework and a draft reparations policy to be used as a tool for advocacy with the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission and the Kenyan government. From 2009 to 2011, in partnership with five local NGOs, ICTJ worked directly with victims’ organizations in over 50 rural Kenyan communities to build their advocacy capacity in connection with a future reparations policy, establish local and regional networks to strengthen their reach, and help recover and document their memories of the conflict.