235 results

“I Am 100% Central African:" Identity and Inclusion in the Experience of Central African Muslim Refugees in Chad and Cameroon

This report is based on qualitative interviews with Central African refugees living in Chad and Cameroon, in which they were asked about their experience of displacement and their intentions and concerns regarding return, reconciliation, and justice. Refugees said that if peace and ju...

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Enrica Picco

Report

20 Years On, ANC Rules but Legacy of Apartheid Still Lingers

In early May, the African National Congress (ANC) held on to power in South Africa’s general election. However, there is a widespread feeling that the party that oversaw the creation of the groundbreaking Truth and Reconciliation Commission has walked away from its obligations to the South African people.

05/28/14
In Focus

2020 Year in Review

2020 was a year of unforeseen hardships throughout the world. We may wish to write off last year as a loss and move forward. However, looking back on it as we do in this 2020 Year in Review, in which we highlight our most read content, we can find and take heart in important victories and apply lessons learned in 2021 and beyond.

02/19/21
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

2023 Year in Review

Throughout 2023, ICTJ’s experts have offered their unique perspective on breaking news around the globe as part of the World Report. Their insightful commentaries have brought into focus the impact these events have on victims of human right violations as well as larger struggles for peace and justice. In this edition, we look back on the past year through the Expert’s Choice column.

01/05/24
A collage of feature images from the 2023 Expert's Choice commentaries.
World Report

5 Reasons We Use Multimedia

ICTJ is launching a new multimedia page featuring projects that highlight the human perspective of issues in transitional justice and seek to engage a wide variety of audiences in a discussion on accountability for massive human rights abuses. Here's why we think multimedia can play a key role in deepening public understanding of transitional justice, and convey the guiding principles of ICTJ.

08/06/13
In Focus

“No Accountability, No Dignity:” Colombia Celebrates International Justice Day

As Colombia marked International Justice Day, the importance of accountability for violations committed during the decades of conflict was underscored in the number of victims awaiting justice—376,000 registered in the Attorney General’s Office, more than 4 million in total. And while July 17 is celebrated as the date of adoption of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, it is clear that in countries like Colombia accountability extends beyond criminal trials.

07/19/12
In Focus

Achieving Justice One Beat at a Time: An ICTJ-Led Hip Hop Initiative Takes Center Stage

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the hip hop movement. To honor its contributions to the struggle for justice, truth, and equality, the Skoll Foundation hosted a panel discussion and concert event featuring hip hop artists, including cofounder of the legendary rap group Run-DMC Darryl McDaniels and Colombian rapper and producer Ali aka Mind, as part of its 20th World Forum held in April in Oxford, United Kingdom. ICTJ, which received the Skoll Award for Social Innovation in 2009 and has partnered with the Skoll Foundation since, invited Ali aka Mind as a representative of Rexistencia Hip Hop, an artistic mentorship and creation lab led by ICTJ’s office in Colombia and the Latin American media outlet and foundation Cartel Urbano.

05/18/23
Rappers perform on a stage
In Focus

Activists: Strong Civil Society is Key to Hopes of Stability in Africa’s Great Lakes

A new ICTJ report argues that in Africa's interconnected Great Lakes region, each country’s attempt to provide justice for past violations offers lessons for similar processes in others. We gathered civil society activists from across the region to discuss which strategies have worked for them, which have not, and opened up about the greatest challenges they face in securing justice.

03/29/17
In Focus

Advancing Global Accountability: The Role of Universal Jurisdiction in Prosecuting International Crimes

Invoking the principle of universal jurisdiction opens the door to the possibility of some accountability in circumstances where justice is not possible in countries where the crimes took place. This study considers the challenges facing the exercise of universal jurisdiction and asse...

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Howard Varney and Katarzyna Zduńczyk

Report

Advancing Victims’ Rights and Rebuilding Just Communities: Local Strategies for Achieving Reparation as a Part of Sustainable Development

This comparative study examines strategies used by local actors to help operationalize reparations for victims of widespread human rights violations, while highlighting the synergies between these efforts and sustainable development. It is based on the fieldwork of ICTJ and its partne...

A women in colorful African dress holds a megaphone to her mouth
Report

Ahead of a UN Periodic Review, Uganda Must Do More to Combat Impunity and Deliver Justice to Victims

On January 27, 2022, the UN Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group will examine Uganda’s human rights record. The UPR process presents an important opportunity to spotlight the human rights situation in the country, and recommend actions that the government of Uganda should take to fulfill its human rights obligations.

01/25/22
In Focus

Amnesty Does Not Erase the Truth

South Africa’s Constitutional Court recently made a landmark ruling on the right to speak the truth about crimes amnestied by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. ICTJ Truth-Seeking Consultant Howard Varney speaks about the ruling and its significance for South Africa and other countries.

05/02/11
In Focus

AU and EU Launch Joint Initiative to Foster Implementation of Africa’s Continental Transitional Justice Policy Through ICTJ-Led Consortium

The African Union and the European Union have officially launched a three-year project to support AU member states as they incorporate the African Union Transitional Justice Policy and undertake transitional justice processes at the national level. The project, named the Initiative for Transitional Justice in Africa, will be implemented by a consortium of three organizations led by the International Center for Transitional Justice, the African Transitional Justice Legacy Fund, and the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation.

10/25/23
Two mean standing at a podium shake hands.
Press Releases

Armenia’s Transitional Justice Agenda Five Years On

Five years ago, in August 2018, to mark his 100 days in office, Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan addressed a large rally in Yerevan’s Republic Square to officially announce his government’s intentions to incorporate transitional justice mechanisms into Armenian post-revolution reform agenda. Since then, Armenia has been pursuing a range of transitional justice initiatives alongside other democratic reforms, and it has made some limited headway, despite setbacks and major challenges including renewed conflict with Azerbaijan.

09/01/23

by

Maria Abrahamyan

A woman standing indoors holds two large photographs of a young man dressed in military clothing.
World Report

Barcelona Course Examines a Responsive Approach to Justice and Peacebuilding

This summer, our Intensive Course on Transitional Justice and Peace Processes brought experts from around the world together in Barcelona to examine how transitional mechanisms can be integrated into peace negotiations. Read about the course and watch interviews with our experts.

07/26/16
In Focus

Barcelona: ICTJ Trains Advocates from 18 Countries on Truth Commissions

Transitional justice practitioners and activists from 18 different countries gathered in Barcelona to attend the 6th Intensive Course on Truth Commissions, organized by the ICTJ and the Barcelona International Peace Resource Center on September 29 - October 3.

10/16/14
In Focus

Beyond Symbolism: Translating Uganda’s Transitional Justice Policy into Real Changes in the Lives of Victims

When the government of Uganda signed the Juba Agreement on Accountability and Reconciliation (AAR) with the rebel group the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in 2007, it committed to establishing concrete measures that would promote accountability, reconciliation, and justice for victims of serious human rights violations stemming from two decades of armed conflict. More than ten years later, on June 17, 2019, Uganda’s Cabinet finally approved the long-awaited National Transitional Justice (TJ) Policy.

07/12/19

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Sarah Kihika Kasande

In Focus

Beyond the Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Transitional Justice Options in Liberia

The Liberia Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) released its final report in December 2009 after more than three years of operations. The report offers valuable insights into Liberia’s turbulent history, including the gross human rights violations committed during the country’s ...

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ICTJ; Paul James-Allen, Aaron Weah, and Lizzie Goodfriend

Report

Bridging the impunity gap in Kenya requires a holistic approach to transitional justice

Following post-election violence in 2007–2008, Kenya faced a need to hold accountable those most responsible for the fighting that resulted in more than 1,000 deaths and widespread property destruction and displacement. But national judicial mechanisms proved reticent to do so, and in 2010, the situation was adopted by the ICC, who in January of 2012 announced indictments against four suspects.

07/19/12
In Focus

To Build Peace, Seek Truth About the Past

Dating back to the 1980s, when peace settlements were made across Latin America, truth commissions have become an important component of peace negotiations. In this opinion piece, ICTJ President David Tolbert calls for societies to give truth commissions a chance of fulfilling their potential by learning from their failures and success.

11/20/13
In Focus

Building Democracies on a Foundation of Truth

This opinion piece by Eduardo González, director of the Truth and Memory program at ICTJ, asks: can you build a solid, legitimate democracy on the sands of silence, or does truth provide a more trustful foundation?

03/26/13
In Focus

Can Building Bridges Break the Cycles of Corruption and Political Violence in Kenya?

In its report, the Kenya Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission concluded that “corruption is endemic in Kenya” and that “there is a direct link between corruption and gross violation of human rights.” This paper considers the extent of impunity for corruption in Kenya, how corr...

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Agatha Ndonga and Ruben Carranza

Briefing Paper

We Can’t Be Sure Who Killed Us: Memory and Memorialization in Post-conflict Northern Uganda

This reports examine the role of memorials in transitional justice processes, based on research conducted in the Acholi and Lango subregions of northern Uganda. It offers recommendations to those planning memorial activities on how to achieve the highest impact.

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ICTJ; Julian Hopwood

Report

We Cannot Survive on Promises Alone: Uganda Study on Opportunities for Reparations for Survivors of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence

This report presents findings from a study conducted by ICTJ, the Women’s Advocacy Network, and the Global Survivors Fund to assess the reparative justice needs of victims of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) in Uganda. The study is based on interviews and focus group discussion...

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Marianne Akumu, Sarah Kihika Kasande, Grace Acan, and Evelyn Amony

graphically designed report cover
Report

Challenging the Conventional: Can Truth Commissions Strengthen Peace Processes?

This joint report by ICTJ and the Kofi Annan Foundation explores common assumptions about why truth commissions are created in the wake of armed conflict and what factors make them more likely to succeed – or fail. It arises from a high-level symposium hosted by the two organizations ...

Report

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

Collective Memory in El Pato-Basillas, Colombia

Since the 1950s, the FARC had been present in the southern department of Caquetá in Colombia. The local population suffered from decades of armed confrontations between the FARC and the Colombian Army. This is the story of the collective memory project implemented with the El Pato municipal farmers’ association (AMCOP) in the El Pato-Balsillas farmer reserve zone.

06/27/19
In Focus

Colombia’s Chance to Fulfill its Historic Obligations to the Disappeared

As the government and FARC reach a peace deal, they have agreed to the creation of a special unit that will search for, locate and identify the disappeared. What do victims expect from this new body?

08/29/16
In Focus

Colombia Commemorates its First National Victims’ Day

Colombia marked the country’s first National Day of Memory and Solidarity with the Victims April 9. For the millions who have suffered human rights violations in Colombia’s entrenched armed conflict, this was a day for their voices to be heard and their suffering to be acknowledged by the state; a nationwide call for accountability and reconciliation in a highly divided society.

04/10/12
In Focus

Colombia Discusses Possibility of a Truth Commission

Nearly a decade after Colombia’s first transitional justice mechanisms were created, the country is now weighing options for the establishment of an official truth commission. To examine and inform these options, the International Center for Transitional Justice is hosting the International Course on Truth Commissions from March 11-15, 2013, in Villa de Leyva, Colombia. The course will be modeled after ICTJ’s international Intensive Course on Truth Commissions, which has been held for five consecutive years.

03/12/13
In Focus

In Colombia, ICTJ Unites Civil Society in the Search for LGBTQ+ Missing and Disappeared Persons

In societies grappling with conflict or repression, LGBTQ+ individuals are often targeted with violence and discrimination and experience some of the cruelest human rights violations. In 2022, Colombia Diversa began collaborating with members of ASFADDES, a prominent association of relatives of the missing or disappeared in Colombia. In June, 24 representatives from the two organizations met in Bogotá to for a series of workshops in which they exchanged knowledge and best practices and developed a better understanding of how to search for missing or disappeared LGBTQ+ persons.

06/14/23
A group of people stand together for a group photo.
In Focus

Colombia’s LGBTI Community Claims Its Space in Country’s Search for Truth

ICTJ, in alliance with organizations Corporación Caribe Afirmativo, Colombia Diversa and Santa María Fundación organized meetings with activists and victims of the conflict to learn more about the needs of the LGBTI community, and to consider how transitional justice measures—especially non-judicial approaches—can contribute towards protecting their rights.

04/21/15
In Focus

Colombia’s Newly Created Special Jurisdiction for Peace Takes Victims-Centered Approach; Advances Justice, Truth Seeking (Excerpt)

In little less than 10 months, Colombia has witnessed the creation of a completely new jurisdiction, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP). JEP has already opened two cases and three situations in its Chamber for the Acknowledgment of Truth and Responsibility.

01/25/19
World Report

In Colombia, Precedent Is Set for Acknowledging Past Atrocities

International Center for Transitional Justice The Final Peace Agreement signed in 2016 between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP) guerrillas and the Colombian government created an ambitious and innovative transitional justice system called the Comprehensive System of Truth...

05/17/22
A man stands at a podium with a microphone, holding up a small white flower.
In Focus

Colombia’s Total Peace Conundrum

Colombia’s new president Gustavo Petro was elected to office on a progressive campaign to strengthen democracy, implement social reforms, and bring “total peace” to the country. His approach to peace encompasses political negotiations with all remaining insurgent groups and simultaneous dialogues with criminal organizations geared toward their voluntary submission to justice in exchange for punitive leniency. But eight months into his administration, Petro’s efforts to deliver on his campaign promise are facing numerous challenges.

04/03/23

by Veronika Hoelker and Naryi Vargas

Several people standing some distance apart in a room are bound together by thick bands of while tape.
World Report

Colombia’s Truth Commission Prepares to Embark on the Extraterritorial Truth-Telling Process

In the dynamic political landscape that has emerged following 50 years of conflict, Colombia is taking steps toward truth and accountability. The Commission for the Clarification of Truth, Coexistence, and Non-Repetition (the “Commission”) is scheduled to begin taking statements in November 2018. As part of its mandate, it will hear the stories of victims now living throughout the Diaspora.

08/22/18
In Focus

In Colombia, an Unlikely Soccer Match Brings Together Victims and Former Combatants

In 1998, Colombian filmmaker Sergio Cabrera released “Time Out,” a fictional comedy in which guerrilla members and soldiers — usually mortal enemies — call a momentary truce to watch the national soccer team play in the qualifiers for the 1994 World Cup. Twenty years later, former combatants of both sides, members of the security forces, and victims of the conflict came together at Llano Grande in the region of Dabeiba to watch Cabrera’s film and play a game of soccer.

11/15/19
In Focus

Confronting the Past: Truth Telling and Reconciliation in Uganda

National healing and reconciliation in Uganda requires a multilayered truth-telling process comprised of community and national processes that are mutually reinforcing and should not be mutually exclusive, as proposed by the JLOS report. A national truth-telling body should address is...

by

ICTJ Uganda

Briefing Paper

Cote d’Ivoire and the Pendulum of Justice

Though not a state party to the Rome Statute, Cote d’Ivoire accepted the jurisdiction of the ICC through an ad hoc declaration in April 2003, and in December of 2010—in the wake of the post-election crisis—reaffirmed that declaration. It has been more than one year since Cote d’Ivoire began a critical transition from a decade-long civil war that divided the country and led to widespread human rights violations, forced displacement, and loss of civilian lives and property.

07/18/12
In Focus

U.S. Counter-Narcotics Interests Killing Colombian Victims’ Hope

As the United States and Colombia near the signing of a free-trade agreement and resolve differences over labor rights and other issues, the problematic extraditions of paramilitaries accused of savage crimes committed during the years of counter-insurgency remain far from the spotlight.

05/13/11
In Focus

Doing Right by Victims in Cote d’Ivoire: Ouattara’s Second Term

In this op-ed, ICTJ President David Tolbert argues that President Alassane Ouattara should use his second term as president to address widespread atrocities committed in Cote d'Ivoire's recent past.

11/11/15
In Focus

‘A Drop of Water on a Hot Stone:’ Justice for Victims in the Central African Republic

Providing justice to victims of human rights abuses in fragile contexts such as the Central African Republic (CAR) is challenging for reasons related not only to the state’s stability, capacity, and political will, but also socioeconomic inequality in the country. This research report...

by

Rim El Gantri and Arnaud Yaliki

A young girl stands in the doorway to her house
Report

Empowering Victims in Kenya on International Day for the Right to Truth

The right to the truth carries special resonance in Kenya, and so on March 24th Kenyan state agencies, survivors, civil society organizations, and international partners will join together in Nairobi to observe the International Day for the Right to the Truth. It provides an opportunity not just for remembrance, but also for greater dialogue between the government and victims about the implementation of reparations programs and of the findings presented in the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission's final report.

03/23/17
In Focus

Ending Gender Violence in Elections: Inclusion of Women in Kenyan Politics and the National Dialogue Process from a Transitional Justice Perspective

In its primary findings, Kenya's Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission noted that women and girls have been subject to systematic, state-sanctioned discrimination in all spheres of their lives, and that the state has failed to take measures to end the practices that restrict wo...

by

Agatha Ndonga and Kelli Muddell

Briefing Paper

In an Era of Social Distancing, Ugandan Activists Use Twitter to Assemble and Exchange Ideas

During this global pandemic, how do organizations such as ICTJ continue with their victim-centered and context-specific work, when their staff members cannot meet face to face with partners bilaterally, much less at organized convenings? The answer to these questions involves both rethinking how to use tools currently available and developing or finding new ones.

08/17/20
In Focus

Ethiopia’s Transition at a Crossroad

The democratic transition in Ethiopia is taking a worrisome turn. The sweeping reforms introduced by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in 2018 after decades of repressive rule and three years of deadly protests raised hopes for a more just and free society, one in which power is distributed equally among the country’s many ethnic groups. Worryingly, the failure to reach an inclusive political agreement on the way forward has triggered intercommunal violence and conflicts that have left hundreds of people dead and more than 2.7 million displaced throughout the country.

01/04/21

by

Ilaria Martorelli

World Report

Ex-Combatant Views of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Special Court in Sierra Leone

This report presents a study of ex-combatants' knowledge and opinions of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and Special Court (SC) in Sierra Leone. Ex-combatants and these accountability institutions are interdependent. Ex-combatants need the TRC and SC to help them reinteg...

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ICTJ, The Post-Conflict Reintegration Initiatives for Development

Report

Experts Discuss Truth Commissions Emerging from Peace Agreements at Symposium Organized by ICTJ and the Kofi Annan Foundation

More truth commissions are being created now through peace agreements than at any other time in history. But are they living up to high expectations for truth, accountability, and reconciliation in societies emerging from violent conflicts? This week, the Kofi Annan Foundation and the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) held a three-day, high-level symposium to explore the challenges and benefits of truth commissions emerging from peace processes.

11/15/13
Press Releases

Exploring the Relationship Between the Special Court and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Sierra Leone

This paper explores practical issues regarding the relationship between the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and Special Court (SC) in Sierra Leone. It looks at: 1) the legal relationship of the Commission and the Court; 2) the question of whether the TRC information should b...

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ICTJ; Marieke Wierda, Priscilla Hayner, Paul van Zyl

Briefing Paper