Resource Library

The Special Court for Sierra Leone-which began with the hope that it would be accessible to millions of Sierra Leoneans- has fallen short of its domestic goals. The decision to try Taylor in The Hague, rather than in Freetown, and the lack of adequate outreach activities made the cour...

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...

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...

The military rulers of Burma (also known as Myanmar) convened a National Convention to draft a new constitution. After many delays, the convention completed the draft on September 3, 2007. An analysis of the constitution’s provisions suggests that instead of being a true catalyst for ...

This update covers the first, complainant phase of the Anfal trial, which lasted for twenty-three sessions from August 21 to November 27, 2006. Seventy-six complainants presented testimony regarding their experiences during the Anfal campaign. Information is taken directly from obser...

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.

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.

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.

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

Hybrid courts have ranged from the ad hoc international Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda (ICTY and ICTR respectively), to the treaty-based Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) and Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), to international assista...