40 results

A New Virtual Museum for Afghan Victims of Human Rights Violations Lays a Foundation for Truth and Justice 

ICTJ’s partner Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization (AHRDO) recently opened a new virtual museum and database dedicated to Afghan victims of conflict and human rights abuses. “The Afghanistan Memory House” not only preserves the memory of these victims but helps pave the path for truth and justice. To launch the virtual museum, ICTJ and AHRDO cohosted a panel discussion on memorialization, moderated BBC journalist Lyse Doucet, in ICTJ’s office in New York this past December.

02/23/24
Image features a collection of photos of the eyes of people arranged in a grid formation
In Focus

We Will Never Forget the Scars and Pains of Conflict: Nepal Study on Opportunities for Reparations for Victims and Survivors of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence

This report presents the findings from research on the needs and expectations of women survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in Nepal. Based on in-depth interviews, it explores what happened to these survivors during the country’s decade-long war (1996-2006), what they need no...

by

Elena Naughton and Dr. Susan Risal

A cartoon illustration of a group of people
Report

Controlling the Narrative: An Afghan Human Rights Expert Describes the Taliban’s Stranglehold on the Media

Since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in August 2021, the regime has put in place a series of policies severely restricting independent media and giving it all but total control over news outlets and their content. Kobra Moradi is a lawyer and researcher working with Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization and author of the recent report, Afghan Media Under the Taliban: Restrictions and Violations. ICTJ sat down with the author to learn more about what impact these restrictions have had on journalists and the free press, and the important role media can still play in such a repressive regime.

01/18/23

by Hannah Frasure

Taliban armed officers seize a journalist.
In Focus

Victims, Survivors, and Agents of Change: Reparations for Sexual and Gender-Based Violations

Reparations for victims of sexual and gender-based violations (SGBV) raise a series of complicated questions and implementation challenges around how to acknowledge this category of victims and deliver reparations without exposing victims to stigma and rejection. Victims must weigh the risk of...

08/01/22

by

Virginie Ladisch

World Report

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

A Transitional Justice Approach to Foreign Fighters

This study explores a transitional justice approach to the dilemma of foreign fighters in violent conflict. Such an approach can help center human rights in comprehensive responses to foreign fighters, and shift the current focus from security and punishment to justice and long-term p...

Image of Children looking through holes in a tent at al-Hol displacement camp in Hasaka governorate, Syria, on April 2, 2019.
Report

ICTJ to Release New Report on Transitional Justice and Foreign Fighters

New York, December 10, 2021—In contexts such as Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya, Iraq, Somalia, and Syria, hundreds, sometimes thousands, of individuals have crossed national borders to engage in violent conflicts in which serious human rights violations and mass atrocities have been committed...

12/10/21
Image of Children looking through holes in a tent at al-Hol displacement camp in Hasaka governorate, Syria, on April 2, 2019.
Press Releases

What Does the Future Hold for Afghanistan?

Afghanistan is a tragic example of how a country in transition can dramatically reverse course on the arduous path toward peace and democracy and return to an abyss of violence and repression at breakneck speed. In the span of a few short weeks, the Taliban regained control over the country. When they finally entered Kabul, the internationally backed Afghan government collapsed. Now in charge, the Taliban has lost no time in demonstrating their goal to re-impose the same extremist and oppressive rule, despite initial declarations affirming a commitment to peace and human rights.

10/01/21

by

Fernando Travesí

Youths stand around outside holding certificates
World Report

We All Fiddle, and Afghanistan Burns

It only takes a quick skim of the daily news to see how the world has yet again failed Afghan civilians. Afghanistan has not had many good years in the past four decades of war, but the past 15 months have been decidedly fraught. The current chaos and spiking violence are proof that, despite what the US government has proclaimed, the “forever war” rages on. Peace and meaningful, victim-centered justice remain elusive.

08/02/21
A group of women stand together, four of them wearing full face coverings, or abayas, one with her face uncovered
World Report

The Future of Peace in Afghanistan: An Interview with ICTJ’s Reem El Gantri

After several years hiatus, ICTJ has recently resumed work in Afghanistan. Last month, ICTJ’s communication intern, Edward Mercado-Gumbs, sat down with expert and cohead of ICTJ’s program in Afghanistan Reem El Gantri to discuss ICTJ’s latest engagement in the country, as well as the prospects for justice and peace.

06/07/21
In Focus

With Violence Against Women on the Rise Around the World, ICTJ’s Gender Modules Offer a Timely Training Tool

In what UN Women describes as the “shadow pandemic,” rates of violence against women have soared since the public health and economic crises brought about by COVID-19. With stay-at-home orders in place in countries around the world, women are more susceptible than ever to domestic violence. In countries affected by conflict or repressive rule, all forms of sexual and gender-based violence are on the rise. The ICTJ Gender Modules offer a timely tool to raise awareness about these issues and help develop gender-sensitive responses to them.

12/21/20
In Focus

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

Molding Justice: Women's Voices from the Tunis Gender Conference

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.

05/15/19
In Focus

Fanning the Flames of Hope in Nepal

Victims in Nepal have been calling on the government for public consultation to ensure wider discussion, a process that would allow them to share their expectations, help them to comprehend the dense language of the proposed amendments and its many gaps. They needed to understand the dubious phrasing especially on issues of criminal accountability that created suspicion, instead of trust and legitimacy in the process.

10/25/18

by

Kelen Meregali

In Focus

Sri Lanka’s Wavering Commitment to Accountability for Enforced Disappearances

Enforced disappearances continue to affect hundreds of thousands of people around the world. The hopes of Sri Lankan victims reached a peak in 2015, when President Maithripala Sirisena was elected on a centrist platform and a commitment to truth, justice, and reconciliation. Later that year, the Sri Lankan government agreed to a UN Human Rights Council resolution that offered a roadmap for the search for the missing and forcibly disappeared. To the dismay of many, however, the government has done little since to implement these commitments and to take the opinions of victims seriously.

08/29/18
In Focus

“Now Is a Time to Lead:” Advancing Transitional Justice Initiatives through Local Governments in Nepal

This report aims to help local governments, victims’ groups, and other stakeholders in Nepal to understand the scope of and potential inherent in local governmental powers and to identify what local governments can do to design and implement initiatives that support victims of conflic...

by

Elena Naughton and Kelen Meregali

Report

Turning Tears into Happiness: The Prospects of Local Reparations Initiatives in Nepal

Nepal’s new local government structure – comprised of districts, municipalities, sub-municipalities, and wards formed within the new federal system under the 2015 Constitution – offers the possibility of some individualized redress for victims at the community-level. This article by Elena Naughton was published in the Kathmandu Post on May 6, 2018.

04/26/18
In Focus

Pursuing Truth, Justice, and Redress in Nepal

The ICTJ continues to support human rights victims in Nepal in their pursuit of justice, truth, reparations, and institutional reform. This briefing paper presents a summary of findings and recommendations from workshops that ICTJ conducted with women victims, as well as meetings it h...

by

Elena Naughton

Briefing Paper

“Once the Truth is Found”: ICTJ Report Sparks Discussion in Nepal

A new ICTJ report on truth and memory in Nepal sparked discussion – and calls for victim-centered policies – at national and local launch events.

07/06/17
In Focus

Ten Years After Peace, Is Nepal Finally Serious About Finding Its Disappeared?

1,300 are still missing in Nepal, nearly a decade after the country's bloody civil war ended. The peace agreement was meant to provide for the families of the disappeared, but today they are still searching for answers. As a new government body begins investigations, victims wonder: is the commission fully committed to addressing their needs?

08/29/16
In Focus

Overlooked and Invisible: The Women of Enforced Disappearances

70-94% of the victims of enforced disappearances are men. But what happens to the women left behind? ICTJ's Amrita Kapur explains why women are uniquely impacted by the crime, and how transitional justice can help.

04/14/15
In Focus

Annex - "To Walk Freely with a Wide Heart" (Nepali)

Annex to the publication, "'To Walk Freely with a Wide Heart' -A Study of the Needs and Aspirations for Reparative Justice of Victims of Conflict-Related Abuses in Nepal." (Nepali)

by

ICTJ

Report

Annex - "To Walk Freely with a Wide Heart"

Annex to the publication, "'To Walk Freely with a Wide Heart' -A Study of the Needs and Aspirations for Reparative Justice of Victims of Conflict-Related Abuses in Nepal."

by

ICTJ

Report

Nepal: New Study by ICTJ Finds Conflict Victims Continue to Have Acute Needs; Calls for Comprehensive Reparations

A new study by ICTJ finds that victims of human rights violations committed during Nepal’s 10-year armed conflict continue to experience hardship – and calls on the government to implement a comprehensive reparations program to respond to their acute and long-term needs.

09/16/14
Press Releases

“To Walk Freely with a Wide Heart”

This report presents the findings of an in-depth survey of more than 400 conflict victims in 10 districts of Nepal, researching their immediate and long-term needs and aspirations. Participants included those who had received benefits through the government’s Interim Relief Program an...

by

ICTJ

Report

ICTJ Program Report: Nepal

During Nepal's armed conflict, more than 13,000 people were killed and 1,300 forcibly disappeared. Today, a new government has voted to create a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as well as a Commission of Inquiry on the Disappearance of Persons. Many victims have protested the flaws in the proposals; meanwhile, no comprehensive reparations have been provided for those left most vulnerable by conflict. In this interview with ICTJ's Santosh Sigdel, we discuss developments related to ICTJ's work in Nepal.

07/01/14
In Focus

Transitional Justice and Women’s Rights: Four Countries to Watch This Year

To mark International Women’s Day, we invite you to read about four countries at the top of our gender justice priorities in the coming year, each with its own history, context, and complex sets of challenges.

03/05/14
In Focus

Nepal: Rethinking Transitional Justice Post Elections

In this opinion piece, Lucia Withers argues that Nepal's elected parties and their representatives should not limit their discussions to the establishment of a truth commission or whether it will provide for amnesties and/or prosecutions. Rather, they should focus on designing policies that are more comprehensive and that would better serve the rights and needs of conflict victims and contribute to broader peace-building efforts.

11/18/13
In Focus

ICTJ Program Report: Reparative Justice

Reparations seek to recognize and address the harms suffered by victims of systematic human rights violations. ICTJ’s Reparative Justice program provides knowledge and comparative experience on reparations to victims' groups, civil society and policymakers worldwide. In this edition of the ICTJ Program Report, we look at ICTJ's work on reparations in dynamic transitional contexts such as Nepal, Colombia, Peru, DRC, and Uganda.

05/13/13
In Focus

ICTJ Forum: January 2013

The latest episode of ICTJ Forum features ICTJ's Marcie Mersky, who joins host and Communications Director Refik Hodzic for an in-depth analysis of news in Guatemala and Nepal, and looks ahead to the next year of transitional justice developments around the world.

01/22/13
Podcasts

In Nepal, Victims’ Silence Cannot Be Bought

Six years after a peace agreement formally ended the conflict in Nepal, the slow, painstaking process of building the country’s new democracy has yet to provide comprehensive reparation to victims. To fully acknowledge the experience of victims of the conflict, Nepal’s government should not mistake the issuance of relief through material benefits for the implementation of a comprehensive reparation program. This is one of the central recommendations of "Relief, Reparations, and the Root Causes of Conflict in Nepal," a major new report from ICTJ, and authored by Ruben Carranza.

10/05/12
In Focus

Relief, Reparations, and the Root Causes of Conflict in Nepal

The report examines the measures taken in Nepal to redress victims following the 2006 peace agreement, which formally ended the ten-year civil war between the government and Maoist rebels. It looks closely at the Interim Relief Program (IRP) — a compensation scheme instituted in 2008 ...

by

Ruben Carranza

Report

Justice for the Disappeared is at the Heart of Transitional Justice

As the world marks August 30, the International Day of the Disappeared, we are reminded that forced disappearances and transitional justice share a common history. Indeed, processes working in concert that came to form the field of transitional justice were born from the search for truth and justice about the disappeared.

08/28/12
In Focus

No One Above the Law: Vetting the Security Sector in Nepal

Nepal’s armed conflict ended six years ago, but commitments made to pursue accountability and establish oversight over security forces have yet to be implemented. ICTJ’s briefing paper “Building Trust and Strengthening the Rule of Law” examines how an ad hoc vetting mechanism for officers in senior command positions could help consolidate democracy in Nepal. Author Alexander Mayer-Rieckh says that as Nepal abandons its commitments to pursue accountability for serious crimes, it undermines the ability of its security forces to maintain the rule of law and protect a new era of peace.

08/24/12
In Focus

Building Trust and Strengthening the Rule of Law

ICTJ’s briefing paper “Building Trust and Strengthening the Rule of Law” examines how an ad hoc vetting mechanism for officers in senior command positions could help consolidate democracy in Nepal. Author Alexander Mayer-Rieckh says that as Nepal abandons its commitments to pursue acc...

by

Alexander Mayer-Rieckh

Briefing Paper

From Relief to Reparations: Listening to the Voices of Victims

Five years since the end of Nepal's brutal civil war, victims are losing patience waiting for truth, justice, and reparation. Last year ICTJ completed a six month research project to analyze the effects of the the government's Interim Relief Program and determine the steps still required for Nepal to fulfill its obligation to provide reparations to victims. The findings have been published in a report titled “ From Relief to Reparations: Listening to the Voices of Victims.”

02/28/12
In Focus

From Relief to Reparations: Listening to the Voices of Victims

Based on interviews with 1,200 people, this study assesses conflict victims' experience with the government's Interim Relief Program since its inception in 2008. The findings are intended to inform a future reparations policy that would seek to help those whose human rights were viola...

by

ICTJ

Nepali Voices: Perceptions of Truth, Justice, Reconciliation, Reparations and the Transition in Nepal

The survey sought to ascertain the opinions and expectations of the victims and their families in Nepal on a range of transitional justice issues, such as human rights violations, truth-seeking, justice, accountability, reparations, and reconciliation.

by

ICTJ; Advocacy Forum

Report

Vetting Lessons for the 2009-10 Elections in Afghanistan

In the lead up to Afghanistan's second cycle of elections in 2009 and 2010, this report aims to analyze the legal and operational framework for vetting candidates in the upcoming elections; describe and assess the challenges to the vetting process in the previous elections; map out po...

by

ICTJ; Fatima Ayub, Antonella Deledda, Patricia Gossman

Report

Security Sector Reform in Afghanistan

Political choices made early on in the state-building process have contributed to the current governance and rule of law deficit in Afghanistan. European actions have been marked by a lack of coordination between political and development assistance as well as diverse – and sometimes ...

by

ICTJ; Fatima Ayub, Sari Kouvo, Rachel Wareham

Report