This report canvasses 31 countries to see how the crime of enforced disappearance affects women as both the disappeared and the female relatives of the disappeared. It finds that across cultures, women face serious barriers to seeking relief due to discriminatory laws and practices. It reviews common strategies that transitional justice mechanisms use to deal with enforced disappearance and reflects on their ability to meet the specific needs of women. As a set of recommendations, it presents lessons from around the world about the need to consider women’s experiences, including when implementing measures like truth commissions, prosecutions, and reparations.

This briefing paper is the summary of “The Disappeared and the Invisible: Revealing the Enduring Impact of Enforced Disappearances on Women,” a comprehensive study by ICTJ that identifies the impacts and government responses to enforced disappearances as they relate to women in 31 countries. It answers two key questions: 1) How Do Enforced Disappearances Impact Women? and 2) How Can and Do Transitional Justice Mechanisms Respond? Its eight key recommendations are intended to help governments design programs and set up institutions to successfully address the enduring impact on women victims and their communities.

This document presents wide-ranging recommendations for political and social reforms in Lebanon developed by a consortium of Lebanese civil society actors, as part of an ICTJ project. Directed at Lebanese authorities, the recommendations address the well-documented and widespread violations committed against civilians in Lebanon since the beginning of the civil war in 1975, including killings, enforced disappearance, displacement, torture, and illegal detention. If followed, it is hoped these measures will help to foster greater public trust in state institutions and curb Lebanon’s ongoing vulnerability to political violence.

This report presents the findings of an in-depth survey of more than 400 conflict victims in 10 districts of Nepal, researching their immediate and long-term needs and aspirations. Participants included those who had received benefits through the government’s Interim Relief Program and those who had been ineligible (such as survivors of torture and sexual violence). It concludes that victims continue to have acute needs and that the government should carry out a comprehensive reparations program immediately.