Resource Library

Sparing almost no corner of the world from its wrath, the COVID-19 pandemic has now spread to every country. In an effort to slow the contagion, governments in most countries have been taking drastic measures requiring all residents other than essential workers to confine themselves in their homes, and shutting down vast sectors of their economies. The impact has been crushing. COVID-19 has profoundly affected every country where ICTJ currently works: Armenia, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gambia, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, and Uganda. We recently caught up with ICTJ’s heads of country programs to learn more about the impact the pandemic is having on transitional justice and society more broadly.

This week, the International Criminal Court heard closing arguments in the trial of Dominic Ongwen, a top commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Northern Uganda. Among the 70 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity he faces are 19 counts of sexual and gender-based crimes, including rape, sexual slavery, and forced marriage—the widest range of such crimes ever to be brought to trial before the court. The case thus marks a milestone in the jurisprudence of these international crimes.

When Janet Arach was still a schoolgirl, she was abducted by Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda. During her eight years in captivity, she was forced to marry an LRA rebel and gave birth to two children. Read more on Janet's journey to become an agent of change for her community in Uganda.

On September 18, the trial of Dominic Ongwen resumed at the ICC. Ongwen is on trial for 70 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity – including various forms of sexual violence and the recruitment of child soldiers – committed in the former IDP camps of Lukodi, Odek, Abok, and Pajule during the 20-year insurgency in Northern Uganda. Ongwen is the first former child soldier who is facing trial at the ICC for crimes in which he was also a victim.

ICTJ and its partners will hosted a national dialogue in Kampala, Uganda on the aftermath of sexual violence. The aim: to shift stigma from victims to perpetrators and end the culture of silence. Sarah Kihika Kasande, head of ICTJ's Uganda office, explains why such efforts are essential to ending impunity and securing a lasting peace in the country.

Children born of wartime sexual violence often face rejection from the communities their mothers call home. For these families, the failure of the state to address the harm they suffered and the enduring stigma leads to their further marginalization. An ICTJ film on this stigma, and the paths to overcome it, sparked discussion at a panel held at the Austrian Mission to the United Nations.

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.

A panel of policy and media experts discusses women's experience in war and the responsibility of media covering their stories at the New York City premiere of a new documentary.

I Am Not Who They Think I Am , a new film by ICTJ and MediaStorm, exposes the stigma facing children born of conflict and their mothers and advocates for their right to reparations and redress from the state.