Resource Library

After decades of repressive rules, military coups, and conflicts in the country’s marginalized peripheries, the Sudanese people have come together and proven their resolve to break with the past and begin a new chapter of their nation’s history. Undeterred by a brutal crackdown, thousands of...

The trend of missing and disappeared persons due to conflict remains more prevalent than ever today. Many governments around the world have remained undeterred in their abuse of power to invade a home or community and remove persons deemed to be a threat. This intractable problem has received global attention largely due to the efforts of family members who often risk their lives in pursuit of the right to know and ‍‍to bury their loved ones.

During the Ben Ali dictatorship in Tunisia, Najet Gabsi, an educator pursuing a diploma in law, was imprisoned for six months for her political activities. Through her participation in the "Voices of Memory" art exhibition, she was able to reignite her passion for activism and articulate the harms she endured at the hand of the regime.

Tunis—Youth activists from across Tunisia, representatives of state institutions, and experts from international nongovernmental organizations gathered on July 10, 2019, to discuss challenges to pursuing accountability for corruption crimes committed during the Ben Ali dictatorship and practical steps that civil society and government can take to overcome these challenges.

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.

Issoumaila Touré grew up during Côte d'Ivoire’s devastating First Civil War (2002-2007), watching his community be torn apart by political manipulations and ethnic differences. When his country once again descended into civil war following the 2010 presidential elections, Issoumaila, then a young man in his early 20’s, came to a major crossroads in his life.

June 20, 2019 — In a tightly packed room at the United Nations, human rights experts gathered for a historic symposium to commemorate a dark chapter of South Korea’s past, the Jeju Uprising and Massacre that began on April 3, 1948, and continued until 1951, which Koreans now refer to as “the 4.3 Jeju” events. Over 100 persons, including notable academic panelists, human rights experts, journalists, diplomats, religious leaders, and peace activists attended the symposium.

The Gambian Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Commission (TRRC) started its operations in January 2019 with the public hearings of witnesses, victims, and perpetrators. It has already succeeded in having high-profile perpetrators testify publicly on their role in violations concerning several victims. But the question is, who should be at the center of truth telling?

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.

In designing transitional justice in Armenia, policymakers, civil society activists, and international actors should remember those who have not had justice for so long: the families of those killed or injured in March 2008, the victims of torture and political detention, the mothers in black seeking the truth about why their soldier sons were killed, the old pensioners who live in cold and hunger, farmers and rural communities who need access to social services, and students and young citizens who saw that their hope for a better future required a revolution.

Banjul, June 12, 2019—“Never Again!” sings Awa Bling in her recently released song produced with the support of ICTJ. She is part of a movement of youth and prominent artists who are reclaiming this universal slogan by creating their own songs about transitional justice and bringing their voices to some of the most forgotten regions of The Gambia. Local and international fans can now access new music videos released on social media by five talented Gambian hip hop artists.

Regardless of how the world remembers Alex Boraine's legacy—or the success and shortcomings of the truth and reconciliation process in South Africa—history will recall that Boraine withstood his own, and his nation’s, transitions to cement his legacy as an architect for truth and reconciliation and a champion for justice for victims.

New York, June 3, 2019—Today, with just over a month to go before the 2019 UN High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development, ICTJ and its partners have released the Report of the Working Group on Transitional Justice and SDG16+, entitled “On Solid Ground: Building Sustainable Peace and Development After Massive Human Rights Violations.”

ICTJ’s Gender Symposium, held on February 2 to 4, 2019, in Tunis, Tunisia, brought together fearless women leaders working in 8 countries to advance the needs of victims and to bring gender issues to the center of transitional justice processes. What was achieved? What experiences cut across these diverse contexts? Kelli Muddell and Sibley Hawkins reflect on these questions and more in this short podcast.

Throughout the week of April 23, I have been attentively following the news to know what would be the impact of this Friday’s hirak (Arabic for protests or mass rallies) in Algeria. The tenth consecutive Friday of protests that began on February 22 is a reaction to the announcement made by an invalid president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, from a hospital in Geneva, of his intention to continue holding his position for a fifth term.

The internationally acclaimed documentary “The Silence of Others" about the forgotten victims of Franco's fascist dictatorship in Spain brings much-needed attention to the right to the truth.

On February 14, Kenyans once again confronted their painful relationship with law enforcement and revisited the deep mistrust born of historical abuses. In an unprecedented ruling, a court found five senior police officers potentially culpable in gruesome murder during the police response to the 2017 post-election protests. On the same day, a senior police officer was convicted of murder and jailed for life.

In December 2018, we mourned the loss of ICTJ's founder, Alex Boraine. On December 12, Fernando Travesí sat down for an intimate conversation with Vincent Mai—ICTJ’s first chairman—to learn more about a life that we will continue to commemorate in the months and years to come.

The Working Group on Transitional Justice and SDG16+ calls on the international community, including policymakers, donors, and practitioners, to: provide consistent support and investment to context-specific transitional justice, as a tool of sustainable peace and development. formulate development...

On February 8, at the Peace Palace in The Hague, the high-level international Task Force on Justice will meet to finalize its report on increasing access to justice for people and communities around the world—or reducing the “justice gap”—as an integral element of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Kaneleng are women who cannot bear children or whose children died at an early age. At a two-day summit held in December 2018, 25 kaneleng received training on transitional justice concepts. They worked to develop songs, comedy, and dramas that they will use to present justice messages through their work as traditional communicators.

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.

As the work of Tunisia's Truth and Dignity Commission winds down, ICTJ's Salwa El Gantri and Kelli Muddell discuss some of the challenges and successes of its work and their vision for transparent, participatory processes to advance Tunisia’s transitional justice mandate in the short and long term.

The Task Force on Justice is gathering inputs in order to encourage greater provision of justice to people and communities outside the protection of the law. As the Task Force has pointed out, the “justice gap” that it seeks to reduce is greatest in conflict-affected countries, where only 3 percent of development assistance goes to justice.