On February 26, the International Center for Transitional Justice and NYU Law’s Center for Human Rights and Global Justice welcomed former President of Colombia and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Juan Manuel Santos for a conversation on the role of transitional justice in peace negotiations, along with Liv Tørres, the director of the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies.

As we bid farewell to 2019 and commence a new decade, we take this opportunity to reflect on the past year and look ahead to a defiant future. It is a time to recognize the achievements and challenges of 2019 and consider the lessons we learned through our experience and research to help us work better in the future.

Fifteen years ago, a young nurse named Cristina Cobo was forcibly disappeared by members of the paramilitary group United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. Paulina Mahecha, her mother, preserves her memory and that of over 20 other disappeared women from the departments of Meta and Guaviare by creating rag dolls. The "Cristinas of the Conflict," as Paulina calls them, are now part of a traveling exhibition that aims raise awareness in Colombia about what happened in the south of the country. 

On September 22, 2018, the International Center for Transitional Justice and the University of Birmingham launched Voices of Memory, an interactive exhibition inspired by a group of nine Tunisian women from across the country and from different generations. It is the first collective testimonial of Tunisian women who experienced the effects of repression under the Ben Ali regime. 

In difficult times, ICTJ stands with those seeking to break the cycle of massive human rights violations and lay the foundations for peace, justice, and inclusion.