184 results

This paper examines the unique, enduring consequences of conflict-related sexual violence in northern Uganda, focusing specifically on the impact of the lack of accountability for sexual crimes leading to motherhood on girls and women, and on the children they bore as a result of viol...

Women and girls in Northern Uganda were victims of various forms of sexual violence, crimes whose consequences endure today. Many of the survivors bore children as a result of their violations, and the children born of wartime rape have been largely overlooked by the state. Meanwhile,...

Children born as a result of wartime sexual violence in northern Uganda and their mothers face continued and compounded violations of their rights and dignity, says ICTJ. Without urgent redress, they will continue on a path of marginalization, poverty, and further abuse.

In this op-ed, ICTJ President David Tolbert argues that President Alassane Ouattara should use his second term as president to address widespread atrocities committed in Cote d'Ivoire's recent past.

This report, part of a joint research project by ICTJ and UNICEF on the intersections of education, transitional justice, and peacebuilding, explores how a transitional justice framework can help to identify educational deficits relating to the logic of past conflict and/or repression...

Children are particularly affected by conflict and mass atrocities and have a unique perspective on how those events impact their communities. This makes their participation in transitional justice processes essential for countries to genuinely make a break with the past and successfully address legacies of mass violence.

This educational tool for educators and mentors is designed to help teach young people in Kenya about difficult periods in Kenyan history and foster discussion on issues of justice, democracy, leadership, and their role as Kenyan citizens.

Young people in Kenya now have a new tool to help them learn about difficult periods in Kenyan history and discuss justice, democracy, leadership, and their role as Kenyan citizens.

In this op-ed, ICTJ Vice President Paul Seils discusses how education can be used to address legacies of mass violence and dictatorship.

In the coming months, after launching a joint report on education and transitional justice with UNICEF, ICTJ will present an array of content on this important topic.

A black-and-white photo of an open book pierced by a single bullet hole was chosen as the grand-prize winner of the International Center for Transitional Justice’s Youth Photo Contest, “THE WAR AS I SEE IT” in Lebanon. The photo, titled “Dominique,” was taken by Sibylle George, a 22-year-old architecture student at American University of Beirut.

Earlier this month, the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) and its partners opened a two-week photo exhibit at the American University of Beirut’s Jafet Library, featuring vivid and often deeply personal photographs submitted for its “The War As I See It” youth photo contest. Students, professors, experts, and journalists packed into the library space lined with the 26 photographs in oversized frames.

After consulting nearly 2,000 of their peers, youth activists in Cote d'Ivoire present their reparations policy recommendations in a special event on Friday.

The first piece in of our "Transitional Justice and Education" series examines the role of school systems in Bosnia and Northern Ireland.

Understanding education as a form of both reconstruction and reparations is essential for societies in their efforts to address victims’ rights and help victims and their families overcome the consequences of a painful past.

While Lebanon is post-peace agreement, it is not necessarily "post-conflict." The country struggles to address the legacy of decades of violence, and the lack of a comprehensive approach to dealing with the past means the country's youth are growing up with scant knowledge of their history. But they want to know more: one project is helping them ask those around them about the past, and giving those who lived it a chance to tell their stories.

A new project launched by ICTJ and the British Council challenges young Tunisians to explore youth marginalization through photography.

UN operations are due to end in Côte d’Ivoire next June, but the country must pursue a victim-centered approach to justice even after UNOCI leaves. An ICTJ-organized conference works to prepare government, civil society, and the diplomatic community for the UN departure and chart a way towards justice and a stable peace for all of Côte d’Ivoire.

In Cote d’Ivoire, avenues for education system reform are limited. To help youth find their voice, ICTJ and UNICEF facilitated an innovative truth-telling project led by Ivorian young people themselves. The result: an exploration of the unique experiences of young people during the conflict, told through radio broadcasts, public discussions and reports to government officials.

A groundbreaking new book from the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) and UNICEF examines the complicated relationship between education, justice and peacebuilding in societies grappling with a legacy of violent conflict. It offers lessons on how education can be harnessed in a divided society to overcome the past and create the conditions for peace, often under very difficult circumstances.

Dominic Ongwen's ICC trial will determine whether the former child-soldier-turned-LRA-commander is guilty or innocent. However, for those of us supporting justice globally, discussion must extend beyond simple dichotomies: the reality of Ongwen’s actions and the context in which they occurred is much more complex than whether he is guilty or innocent. Moreover, the calls for justice by victims in Uganda extend far beyond the trial of a single man, and demand a multifaceted response.

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.

Join President David Tolbert as we celebrate ICTJ at 15 years, during which there have been many pivotal moments, both for our organization and the struggle for justice globally.

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.

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.

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.

The impact of Tunisia's transitional justice process is rooted in its ability to give voice to diverse segments of the population, including historically marginalized communities. A workshop hosted by ICTJ brought generations of women together to explore truth-telling techniques and create space for all voices.

To mark 15 years of ICTJ, we asked staff past and present for memories that stand out to them - moments that throw the stakes of our work into sharp relief and resonate with them years later. Virginie Ladisch and Clara Ramirez-Barat recall how one Canadian student, in exploring the legacy of the country's Residential Schools, arrived at the concept of "never again."

What hope is there for justice for victims of atrocities in profoundly fractured societies, where systems of government have broken down and social and political divisions run deep? What is the role of transitional justice in forging peace in countries like Colombia, after decades of ...

This report presents the main findings of a multiyear research project conducted by the International Center for Transitional Justice on the challenges and opportunities of responding to serious and massive human rights violations in different contexts. The project commissioned 21 stu...

A new book by ICTJ titled Justice Mosaics: How Context Shapes Transitional Justice in Fractured Societies examines the challenges of responding to massive human rights violations in different and difficult circumstances in today's world.

Ongoing economic and social inequality, a legacy of the dictatorship, affects Tunisians across generations, but has particularly pronounced impacts on young people. ICTJ worked with four young photographers to confront the consequences of marginalization and explore its impacts on Tunisian youth. Their four photo galleries comprise the exhibition "Marginalization in Tunisia: Images of an Invisible Repression.”

Discussions about a future return of refugees and coexistence among groups currently at war in Syria must begin now, even in the face of ongoing violence and displacement. This report, based on interviews with refugees, makes it clear that the restoration of dignity will be important ...

Even in the face of ongoing brutality, many of the nearly 12 million Syrians displaced by the conflict long for their return home – dependent, of course, on certain conditions being met. For our latest report, ICTJ interviewed dozens of Syrians refugees in Lebanon to discuss the impact of the conflict on their lives, their expectations for a potential return home, and their view of what coexistence in Syria might look like. We sat down with the report's authors, Rim El-Gantri and Karim El Mufti, to discuss their findings.

A new ICTJ report argues that discussions about a future return of refugees and coexistence among groups currently at war in Syria must begin now, even in the face of ongoing violence and displacement.

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.

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.

This paper explores the power of a transitional justice approach to education reconstruction in post-conflict settings. Its central question is how the aims of transitional justice can guide educational reform processes after conflict or periods of massive human rights violations, wit...

Education, as a critically important institution that is widely considered to be both formative and transformative, is something that transitional justice cannot afford to overlook. Transitional justice in its early years did not directly engage with education, but today this has chan...

Lebanon’s civil war continues to impact the Lebanese people, both those who lived through the war and those born after it. While the widespread harms it caused are still visible today, the official denial of both the war and its lasting consequences has left a hole in Lebanon’s histor...

A new, photo-filled publication from the International Center for Transitional Justice details how photos taken by Lebanese young people across the country helped to spark discussion about the disturbing, often-overlooked legacy of the Lebanese civil war.

On March 22, Syrian victims and activists will gather in Geneva, Switzerland for a public hearing-style event examining the impact of the destruction of schools in the context of the Syrian conflict. The event will be hosted by the International Center for Transitional Justice and the ten Syrian organizations that together comprise the Save Syrian Schools project. A livestream will be available.

As human rights advocates and state representatives increasingly acknowledge the necessity of involving children in truth-seeking processes, there is a growing need for practical tools that facilitate children’s participation while prioritizing their protection. This statement-taking ...

Societies seeking to grapple with the past have much to gain by speaking with young people about their experiences and ideas more effectively. But by the same token, they have a responsibility to gather those statements in a way that both protects and respects youth voices. We sat down with Valerie Waters, author of a new report on taking statements from young people, to discuss the guide and clear up common misconceptions about the statement-taking process.

ICTJ announces the departure of David Tolbert, President of the ICTJ, after eight years of service. David Tolbert was appointed president of ICTJ in March of 2010. He led the center’s evolution as it continued to pursue justice around the globe in changing times. ICTJ’s Executive Director, Fernando Travesi, will assume leadership of ICTJ following Tolbert’s departure at the end of March 2018.

Ten Syrian human rights organizations have been working in partnership with the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) to document and expose the long-term impacts of the attacks to and the destruction of schools in Syria. The project, Save Syrian Schools, will present its findings in a public hearing-style event in Geneva on March 22nd, at Forum Genève. The project works creatively to document human rights abuses and includes a public hearing-style event, multimedia, and high-level dialogue.

On March 22 in Geneva, we listened to the experiences of Syrians affected by attacks on schools. The Save Syrian Schools project presented the results of its one-year-long research—an unprecedented collaboration of 10 Syrian human rights organizations and the ICTJ.

Although youth are key political and social stakeholders who have much to contribute to—and gain from—transitional justice processes, they often remain marginalized from such processes or are given only a limited and predetermined space in which to engage. In recent years, the peacebu...

ICTJ's Virginie Ladisch spoke with Heythem Guesmi, a young Tunisian activist who is fighting systemic oppression, economic exclusion, and impunity that persist despite the Revolution’s initial success, and Thenjiwe McHarris, a young organizer working with Black Lives Matter in the United States—a movement whose urgency also stems from historic marginalization leading to widespread impunity and systematic failures in law enforcement.

ICTJ sits down with Syria Expert Nousha Kabawat to pause and reflect on the progress made so far in building capacity, raising awareness, and initiating high-level dialogue to address what remains a perilous situation.