Through its initiatives in several countries, ICTJ has learned that hip hop music can be a powerful and effective way to engage young people in transitional justice issues, such as truth, memory, and reconciliation, and encourage their participation in ongoing processes. The music, which particularly appeals to younger generations, can uniquely connect them to historical and ongoing injustices through a cathartic musical experience. It can also inspire them to resist oppression and to demand justice and positive social and political change.

In the Gambia and Côte d’Ivoire, for instance, ICTJ partnered with rising hip hop artists in an effort to educate young people about transitional justice processes underway in their respective countries and motivate them to take part in them. The artists created hip hop music about issues related transitional justice, effectively reaching a segment of the population that may not have otherwise known the full extent of past abuses or paid attention to policies meant to address them. These ICTJ-led initiatives fomented creativity and democratized knowledge about how to deal with gross human rights violations after conflict or repression. Several of the young people who participated in them later became leaders in their communities.

Knowing the positive role hip hop music can play in the pursuit of truth, justice, and redress, ICTJ staff members from different country offices discussed the idea of holding an international hip hop festival in Colombia where hip hop artists from around world could come together, learn from their each other’s experiences, and share their ideas about transitional justice issues with other artists, experts, practitioners, and civil society representatives. After many months of planning and numerous postponements due to the global COVID-19 public health crisis, ICTJ's office in Colombia joined forces with the Movement of Latin American Expressions of Hip Hop (MELAH) and the online cultural outlet Revista Cartel Urbano to host the hybrid virtual and live International Hip Hop Encounter in Bogotá, Colombia on November 25 through November 28. The four-day event assembled artists, musicians, and activists from across Latin America and Africa for live performances and to discuss the role of hip hop music and culture in uncovering truth, preserving memory, and resisting violence and oppression.

Black and Latinx youth in the South Bronx, in New York City, created hip hop music and culture in the 1970’s, against a backdrop of urban blight, poverty, and rising violent and often drug-related crime. The artistic and cultural movement has since spread to nearly every country around the globe. The music, graffiti, and breakdancing often articulate the hardships of marginalized populations and their desire for justice and greater opportunities, regardless of the country where they are made. 

Many marginalized populations today, especially those in countries with legacies of gross human rights violations, still grapple with poverty, inequality, social exclusion, and targeted police brutality. For young people in these communities, hip hop remains a relevant tool to help affirm their dignity in face of discrimination and an outlet of creative expression and cultural resistance. 

Learn more about the international hip hop encounter here: