62 results

The Force of the Police: An Analysis of Police Violence Based on Experience in the United States and the Imperative to Restore Legitimacy

George Floyd’s death reignited existing anger over American society’s deep and festering racial wounds. His death triggered significant social uprisings that have challenged the methods of policing that have emerged over the course of several decades. With a growing awareness of polic...

by

Roberto Cornelli

Three police officers kneel with several protesters at a demonstration.
Report

Finding Hope Across Continents of Pain

On September 15, ICTJ organized a side event on the missing and disappeared in Syria, sponsored by the governments of Luxembourg and Finland, during the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly. The event was a timely one, as it addressed a recent proposal for the creation of a new...

10/21/22

by Nousha Kabawat and Elena Naughton

In Focus

On the Heels of Commissioners’ Trip to New York, Optimism for Colombia’s Peace Process

With the inauguration of Colombia’s new president last month, optimism for the country’s ongoing transitional justice process is at a high. Newly elected President Gustavo Petro has strongly affirmed his commitment to the implementation of the peace agreement and ensuring the institutions it created...

09/21/22
In Focus

ICTJ Organizes U.S. Visit for Syrian Advocates for the Detained and Disappeared

As part of its ongoing efforts to support Syrian civil society organizations seeking to end enforced disappearances in Syria, ICTJ organized a visit to the United States for members of two prominent family associations: Families for Freedom and the Caesar Families Association. The trip, which was planned in coordination with longtime partner Dawlaty, comes at a time when Syrian civil society and victims’ groups have been intensifying their calls for an international mechanism to uncover the fate of those who have gone missing in Syria since the start of the uprising in March 2011.

07/13/22
In Focus

The Ghosts of Racial Violence in Maryland

By Sean Yoes Terror on the Eastern Shore December 4, 1931, is a night that lives on in the minds of Black residents in Salisbury, Maryland, a small town along the state’s Eastern Shore. That cold winter night, a mob of more than 2,000 racist residents hung 18-year-old Matthew “Buddie” Williams from...

06/14/22
A clear glass jar with the name "King Johnson" with large white text, with "Brooklyn, Maryland, December 25, 1911," stands on the grass as a hand fills it with dirt.
In Focus

Civil Society-Led Truth-Seeking Initiatives: Expanding Opportunities for Acknowledgment and Redress

At a time when truth-seeking and reparations initiatives are taking hold across the United States, this report offers reflections from various civil society-led truth-seeking processes. Drawing on case studies from the United States, Colombia, Scotland, and West Papua, the report iden...

People gather around a plaque marking the Greenboro Massacre outside during an inaugural ceremony
Report

A Historic Black Community in the United States Resists Erasure

As plans to build a massive Wegmans distribution center forge ahead, residents of the historic Black community of Brown Grove, Virginia, demand acknowledgment and redress.

04/18/22
In Focus

2021 Year in Review

In 2021, there were significant developments, some hopeful and some devastating, in the struggle for truth, accountability, and redress in countries around the world. ICTJ experts covered these events in commentaries and feature stories published on our website and in our newsletters. While 2022 is already underway and we at ICTJ are hard at work, we would like to pause a moment to take stock and reflect on the year that was.

01/25/22
In Focus

Five Years of Light and Shadow: Colombia’s Final Peace Agreement Marks a Milestone

When reflecting on peace agreements and their implementation, it is tempting to begin by saying that these processes are generally slow and complex. While that may be true in many contexts, it contributes little to the discussion about what has happened in Colombia since the government signed a final peace deal in November 2016 with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC-EP—the oldest and largest guerrilla group in the county—that ostensibly ended 50 years of war.

12/01/21

by

Maria Camila Moreno Múnera

World Report

Opening Space for Healing and Change: Maryland Commission on Lynching Holds First Public Hearing

The Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission held its first public hearing in Cumberland, Allegany County, Maryland, on October 2, 2021. The event, broadcast live from Emmanuel Episcopal Church, brought together commissioners, panelists, and guests to acknowledge and memorialize the tragic lynching of 18-year-old Robert Hughes (aka William Burns) in Cumberland in 1907. In the coming months, the commission will convene several more of these public hearings in counties across the state of Maryland.

10/22/21

by

Virginie Ladisch

In Focus