Resource Library

During a thematic hearing December 13–14, Kenya's Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) heard testimonies from children on their own experiences as part of the commission's investigation into gross human rights violations and historical injustices in the country between 1963 and 2008.

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.

The International Center for Transitional Justice strongly welcomes the decision of the UK High Court ordering the British government to pay damages to a group of Kenyans who were imprisoned and tortured by colonial authorities following the Mau Mau Rebellion of the 1950s.

The latest ICTJ Program Report presents ICTJ’s work in Africa. In a deeply insightful interview, Suliman Baldo, director of ICTJ’s Africa program and one of the world’s leading experts on transitional justice in Africa, discusses transitional justice processes in Ivory Coast, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Uganda.

SEILS: ICTJ are delighted to host today a real giant in the world of political and legal struggle. Albie Sachs has not only played a huge and influential role in the development of the South African constitution but after being nominated by Nelson Mandela for 15 years in the new constitutional court...

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.

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.

Kenya continues to deal with the repercussions of violence stemming from its disputed 2007 presidential elections, when political protests and targeted ethnic violence rocked the country, leaving thousands dead and hundreds of thousands displaced. Head of our Kenya office Chris Gitari gives an update on how Kenya is moving forward, and explains ICTJ's work in the country.

ICTJ joins the global observations of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and the start of the “16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign.” On this day, we recognize the ongoing efforts to protect women from violence in different parts of the world.

A new documentary produced by ICTJ highlights the need to reform Kenya's police force, and stresses the vital role civil society plays in conducting a thorough vetting process and the establishment of public trust in security forces.

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.

In this op/ed, the head of ICTJ's Kenya Program, Christopher Gitari, argues that President Kenyatta's recent apology to victims—though commendable—must be supported by solid reforms and initiatives for rebuilding the lives of those who have suffered the most.

As Kenya moves closer to a climate where comprehensive reparations for victims of post-election violence are possible, ICTJ is supporting women victims of sexual violence to ensure that their needs are reflected in any program of restitution.

In this op-ed, ICTJ's President David Tolbert urges President Uhuru Kenyatta and Kenyan institutions to take concrete actions without further delay to provide reparations for victims, tackle the struggling police vetting reform, and prosecute the serious crimes that were committed during the post-election violence.

After years of waiting for the government to take action by implementing the recommendations of Kenya’s Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission, victims of past human rights violations and mass violence are demanding that something be done.

On International Women's Day, ICTJ Gender Justice Senior Associate Amrita Kapur highlights how insecurity affects women and is key to overcoming inequality across all dimensions of empowerment. "Without including institutional reform, we are condemning women to another century of inequality," she writes in this op-ed.

In this editorial, Christopher Gitari argues that as the ICC case against Ruto and Sang comes to a halt, our focus must shift to other forms of justice in Kenya - including reparations for victims.

Civil society leaders, members of victims' groups and state officials throughout the Great Lakes region will convene in Kampala, Uganda next week at a conference hosted by ICTJ. Attendees will share their experiences working for redress in their communities and discuss what strategies have proven effective at the local level.

Today, ICTJ opened a two-day conference in Kampala, Uganda, gathering activists and officials from the African Great Lakes Region to discuss efforts at redress and accountability for serious human rights violations committed in their countries.

The brazen abduction and brutal murder of human rights lawyer Willie Kimani, his client, Josephat Mwenda, and their taxi driver, Joseph Muiruri, underlines once more the urgent need for police reform in Kenya says ICTJ's Christopher Gitari.

As ICTJ looks back on its 15 years of work, join us in celebrating our allies across the globe who join us in the struggle for human rights, against impunity. To honor their efforts in the trenches of this shared struggle, we will bring you their stories in the weeks and months to come. We begin with Kenya's Jaqy Mutere, who provides both an empathetic ear and a political voice to survivors of sexual violence.

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.

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.

In 1986, Wachira Waheire was whisked off the street, taken to Kenya's most infamous torture chamber, and sentenced to four years in prison. Over the next 30 years, his quest for justice led him to meetings with his torturers to courtroom showdowns with the country's Attorney General. Discover his ongoing struggle for truth, acknowledgement, and reparations alongside all survivors of abuse in Kenya.