119 results

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

Activists and Magistrates Join Forces to Tackle International Crimes in DRC

In meeting spaces in Goma, Bukavu, and Bunia, activists and magistrates are discussing ways that they can work together to improve the prosecution of international crimes in the region and address the concerns of local communities.

12/10/15
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...

by

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

African Union Must Act to Address Impunity for International Crimes

In a major effort to promote accountability for serious crimes in Africa, ICTJ joined hundreds of human rights groups and transitional justice partners to ask the African Union to prioritize justice. Addressed to the new African Union (AU) Chairperson Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the letter warns that strained relationships between the AU and the International Criminal Court (ICC) may put justice at risk.

01/18/13
In Focus

After the Truth Commission, Tunisia Must Pursue Inclusive Transitional Justice

Tunis, July 10, 2020—The Truth and Dignity Commission’s (TDC) final report was at last published on June 24, six year after the TDC began its work. It marks an important milestone in Tunisia’s transition, but the journey ahead to justice and democracy is a long one. Policymakers and practitioners now have the responsibility to take the next step forward.

07/10/20
Press Releases

Amnesty Must Not Equal Impunity

Background on the role of amnesty in processes of transitional justice and the 2009 DRC Amnesty Law. Given a fragile justice system and culture of impunity, this law risks rewarding blanket amnesty for all crimes committed in the DRC. ICTJ gives suggestions to break the culture of imp...

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ICTJ

Fact Sheet

Applying Universal Jurisdiction to Prosecute International Crimes and the Implications for Syrian Victims

For many victims of human rights violations and international crimes around the world, the prospects of holding perpetrators to account, especially high-level individuals, have long seemed farfetched, given current political and legal hurdles and the limitations of international criminal justice mechanisms. For this reason, the multiple ongoing investigations into international crimes committed in Syria and court cases against suspected perpetrators based on the principle of universal jurisdiction across Europe have offered a ray of hope in an otherwise bleak justice landscape.

12/23/20
In Focus

Bemba’s 18-Year Jail Sentence Is ICC’s Warning to Military Leaders About Sexual Violence

Jean-Pierre Bemba's sentencing is a landmark for the International Criminal Court. Paul Seils looks at how it may reverberate into the future.

06/24/16
In Focus

Breaking the Ground on Peace and Stability: Transitional Justice and the Rule of Law

Transitional justice, at the core of its mission, strives to “break the ground on a future of peace and stability.” For countries with a violent or repressive past—and this can be said of most—implementing truth-seeking, criminal justice, reparations, and institutional reform measures forms the basis for establishing a culture of justice and respect for the rule of law.

05/15/12
In Focus

Building the First Line of Defense against Impunity: Podcast with Phakiso Mochochoko

The global struggle against impunity relies on a frontline of national judicial systems willing and able to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. In this final podcast on complementarity, Phakiso Mochochoko, head of the Jurisdiction, Complementarity, and Cooperation Division of the International Criminal Court, discusses the role the court must play in supporting complementarity in practice. [Download](/sites/default/files/Mochochoko_ICTJ_Podcast_03202012.mp3) | Duration: 10:17mins | File size: 5.88MB

03/26/12
Podcasts

Case Against Callixte Mbarushimana and Sylvestre Mudacumura

This paper provides a description of the brief proceedings against Callixte Mbarushimana and Sylvestre Mudacumura before the International Criminal Court.

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Michèle Laborde-Barbanègre, Guy Mushiata, and Meritxell Regue

Briefing Paper

Case Against Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo

This briefing paper provides an overview of the proceedings against Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo before the International Criminal Court. The conviction and sentence against Katanga signifies the first final judgment of the ICC.

by

Michèle Laborde-Barbanègre, Guy Mushiata, and Meritxell Regue

Briefing Paper

Case Against Thomas Lubanga

This briefing paper provides an overview of the proceedings against Thomas Lubanga before the International Criminal Court since the start of the prosecutor’s investigation in 2004 until the 2012 decisions of Trial Chamber I concerning the verdict, the sentence, and reparations. It id...

by

Michèle Laborde-Barbanègre, Guy Mushiata, and Meritxell Regue

Briefing Paper

Civil Society Groups and Members of the Judiciary Discuss Greater Collaboration on Prosecution of International Crimes in the DRC

ICTJ held a series of workshops in Goma, Bukavu, and Bunia, Eastern DRC, from November 13 until November 20 to discuss opportunities for greater interaction and collaboration between civil society and criminal justice officials to advance the prosecution of international crimes in the Congo, in order to better address the concerns of affected communities.

11/30/15
Press Releases

A Close-up Look at the Fight Against Impunity in the DRC

Colonel Muntazini serves as the focal point for cooperation between the ICC and the military justice system of the DRC, making him ideally placed to explain the practical implications of complementarity. Read his review of our Handbook on Complementarity and discover how it applies to his country and his work.

08/04/16
In Focus

Conference Explores Uncertain Path Forward for Tunisia’s Specialized Criminal Chambers

TUNIS—ICTJ hosted a conference on May 2 and 3 to address the current challenges facing Tunisia’s Specialized Criminal Chambers (SCC) as it proceeds to adjudicate cases of serious human rights violations committed under the former regime. The 90 guests who attended included members of Tunisia’s Truth...

05/10/18
In Focus

Confronting Past Crimes at the National Level

Background on conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Central African Republic (CAR) in the context of Jean-Pierre Bemba’s trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC is preparing to prosecute Bemba of the DRC for alleged rapes, torture and murders that...

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ICTJ

Fact Sheet

Courts of First Resort: Prosecuting International Crimes at the National Level

In the quest to bring perpetrators of massive crimes to justice, international courts should be considered only as a last resort. Efforts to establish rule of law require the development of national capacity to prosecute the most serious crimes. On 25 and 26 October 2012, leading international actors from the judicial, rule of law, and development sectors will convene at the Greentree Estate in Manhasset, New York for the third Greentree Conference on Complementarity. The meeting aims to examine the needs of and challenges to national prosecutions for the most serious crimes in four countries: Ivory Coast, the DRC, Colombia, and Guatemala.

10/24/12
In Focus

Democratic Republic of Congo: Impact of the Rome Statute and the International Criminal Court

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC or Congo) presents a critical test for the International Criminal Court (ICC). All of the accused in current ICC trials are from DRC. The Court plays a vital role in DRC regarding complementarity, peace, justice, victims, and affected communities....

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ICTJ; Mima Adjami and Guy Mushiata

Briefing Paper

“We Didn’t Think It Would Hit Us,” New Report on Attacks on Schools in Syria Calls Attention to Atrocities

A new report on attacks on schools in Syria harnesses documentation to call attention to atrocities and advance storytelling, truth seeking, acknowledgment. It is the product of Save Syrian Schools, a collaborative project led by 10 Syrian civil society organizations and the ICTJ that demands an end to the killing of Syrian children and justice for the bombing of schools.

09/07/18

by

Christopher Boland

In Focus

“We Didn’t Think It Would Hit Us:” Understanding the Impact of Attacks on Schools in Syria

This report examines attacks on schools in Syria from multiple angles: from the legal implications of such attacks to the everyday impact on students, teachers, families, and society at large. It is the product of Save Syrian Schools, a collaborative project led by 10 Syrian civil soc...

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Save Syrian Schools

Report

Don’t Call It ‘International Justice Day’

It may seem trivial for me to write about why those who continue to mark July 17 as "International Justice Day" should finally stop calling it that. Many human rights groups (including ICTJ), United Nations agencies, and governments have been publicly using that phrase since 2010. It is for victims of massive and systematic human rights violations, including abuses that amount to international crimes under the Rome Statute, that it is important to end the misconception that the phrase encourages.

08/03/20

by

Ruben Carranza

World Report