Resource Library

In situations of large scale violence and repression, reparations are best conceptualized as rights-based political projects aimed at giving victims due recognition and at enhancing civic trust both among citizens and between citizens and state institutions. This paper explores, in th...

The general aim of this paper is to construct an argument about the advisability of drawing links between disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) and reparations programs, but not just because this is better from the standpoint of justice. It can be argued that the securi...

This chapter examines the largely overlooked relationship between female ex-combatants, DDR, and transitional justice, with a particular focus on truth commissions. The potential of truth commissions to recognize women’s multiple and contradictory roles during armed conflict and to pu...

Gender-based violence has been endemic in recent conflicts throughout the world and has resulted in women being disproportionately affected as both casualties of violence and as internally displaced persons. The reality is that gender-based violence has often been dismissed as an unfo...

Gender-based violence, including sexual violence was a common feature of the 10-year-long armed conflict between the security forces and the Communist Party of Nepal – Maoist (CPN-M), yet few individual incidents were reported.

One of the major challenges facing parliamentary democracy can be the restriction of people's participation in democratic processes, especially the opportunity to vote in periodic elections.

Timor-Leste has implemented a number of transitional justice mechanisms to address the legacy of human rights violations that occurred in relation to the 1975 Timorese civil war and 24-year Indonesian occupation.These mechanisms have failed to provide victims with meaningful reparatio...

While Afghanistan goes through tremendous transition, it is important for justice and reconciliation actors to build transitional justice and gender initiatives based on experiences in other postconflict contexts.

This paper is meant to help the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), the civil parties before the court and other Khmer Rouge period survivors and their families deal with practical and legal issues in the course of fulfilling the reparations mandate of the ECCC. ...

Reparations play a unique role within the transitional justice framework in providing justice for victims.

Both of the books reviewed here provide deep analysis regarding the challenges of repairing historical mass crimes and past harmful policies, aswell as the limitations and difficulties of such endeavors.

The design and implementation of reparations for victims in the aftermath of large-scale and serious human rights violations is an area rife with challenges.

Of the 26 countries in the lowest bracket of the UN Development Programme’s 2008 Human Development Index, six have large victim communities expecting reparations as a result of truthseeking and criminal justice measures.

While not seen as sufficient in and of themselves as a means of reparation, the concept of “collective reparations” has been one of the ways in which reparation advocates have respond to practical challenges and to the overall complexity of responding to massive violations of human...

This report is intended to contribute to the work of National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) and of other organizations involved in providing reparations to victims in Sierra Leone. It aims to identify some of the lessons from the Year One Program program, and to help define the...

This report examines the role of women in the implementation of international peace and security instruments through a case study of transitional justice mechanisms in the Liberian context. The experiences of Liberian women have much to teach the world about women’s role in peacebuild...

The survey sought to ascertain the opinions and expectations of the victims and their families in Nepal on a range of transitional justice issues, such as human rights violations, truth-seeking, justice, accountability, reparations, and reconciliation.

The purpose of this paper is to outline a proposal for a reparations program for Timor-Leste. Timor-Leste has experienced a number of mechanisms designed to provide justice for past wrongs. These have attempted to provide truth, criminal justice, and security sector reform. However to...

This article examines the various points at which accountability for economic crimes, including large-scale corruption, intersects with accountability for human rights violations. Because corruption and human rights violations are mutually reinforcing forms of abuse, the field of tran...

This publication is intended to assist in the implementation of principles contained in international human rights documents and treaties. It is a practical tool to provide guidance on implementing reparations initiatives. Its focus is not on redressing single or isolated human rights...

Most comprehensive book-length study of reparation programmes currently available, including case-studies, thematic chapters, and national legislation documents. Contains contributions from an international and cross-disciplinary group of leading scholars and practitioners. Provides a...

Part of a series of practitioner-oriented publications by OHCHR, focused on the establishment and implementation of reparations programs. Download the PDF from the OHCHR website

Women face a double marginalization under authoritarian regimes and during and after violent conflicts. Nonetheless, reparations programs are rarely designed to address the needs of women victims. What Happened to the Women? Gender and Reparations for Human Rights Violations, argues f...

Given that women represent a very large proportion of the victims of conflicts and authoritarianism, it makes sense to examine whether reparation programs can be designed to redress women more fairly and efficiently and seek to subvert gender hierarchies that often antecede the confli...

In the aftermath of massive or systematic violations or more generalized conflict,providing reparation in a meaningful way poses a daunting challenge. This 15 page paper covers the nature and objectives of reparations, forms of reparations, policy design of reparations, and financing...

This paper focuses on the issue of reparations in Darfur. It particularly emphasizes victims' right to reparation for the harm done to them, and aims to ensure that this right is recognized and upheld in any peace process. Drawing on experiences from other regions, it reviews and addr...

This report provides an overview of how truth commissions can address gender issues. It aims to help those involved with the truth commission process make informed decisions regarding different operational directions by highlighting potential advantages and disadvantages of the variou...

This study examines the development of restitution and reparations in international law and practice over the last century. It aims to provide recommendations on how restitution can best contribute to transitional justice by reviewing four case-studies: the Czech Republic, South Afric...

In this amicus brief to the Indonesian Constitutional Court, ICTJ submits that the legislation establishing the Indonesian Truth and Reconciliation Commission ("TRC law") contravenes international law. ICTJ contests the provisions of the TRC law that allow for the granting of amnesty ...

This report outlines Indonesia's international law obligations to provide remedies to the "1965 victims" of General Soeharto's persecution and stigmatization of those affiliated with the Indonesia Communist Party. It traces the history of this persecution, provides an overview of curr...

This publication provides an operational framework for vetting and institutional reform. It is intended address the challenges of institutional and personnel reform in post-conflict States through the creation of vetting processes that exclude persons who lack integrity from public in...

The Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia's reparations mandate may seem narrow and restrictive. Yet there are several potential ways in which the Court can make the right to reparations meaningful for civil parties and for many other Cambodians. It has the ability to inf...

This study examines various aspects of existing reparations following the 1991-1999 conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. It clarifies the different categories of reparation; identifies groups potentially entitled to compensation; assesses the extent and fairness of existing policies; a...

This report provides parameters for the creation of a reparations program in Peru. The program must be included in the process of raising a new national awareness in Peru regarding past abuses and building a legal-political framework more responsive to human rights. To ensure sustaina...

The South African Coalition for Transitional Justice (SACTJ) submits the following comments regarding the May 11, 2010 General Notice 282 published in the Government Gazette. The Coalition objects to the Notice 282 regulations on procedural, constitutional, and international law groun...

This paper documents the opinions of victims of human rights violations in Kenya about the country’s unfolding transitional justice process. The first section gives background into the human rights violations; the second section presents victims ideas about reparative justice. The rep...

ICTJ filed an amicus brief in the apartheid reparations case before the Southern District Court of New York on November 25, 2009. The brief supports a decision by the South African Government not to oppose legal action against five international companies that are accused of aiding an...

Since 1990, 65 former heads of state or government have been legitimately prosecuted for serious human rights or financial crimes. Many of these leaders were brought to trial in reasonably free and fair judicial processes, and some served time in prison as a result. This book explores...