Resource Library

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.

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, 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.

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.

A major new report from ICTJ canvasses 31 countries to see how the crime of enforced disappearance affects women, as both the disappeared and the female relatives of the disappeared. It finds that across cultures, women face serious barriers to seeking relief due to discriminatory laws and practices.

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.

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.

ICTJ Vice President Paul Seils writes that the ICC cannot endorse impunity measures any more than others committed to the defense of human rights and the struggle for peace and justice.

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.

Transitional justice practitioners and activists from 18 different countries gathered in Barcelona to attend the 6th Intensive Course on Truth Commissions, organized by the ICTJ and the Barcelona International Peace Resource Center on September 29 - October 3.

In this edition of the ICTJ Program Report, ICTJ Senior Associate Felix Reátegui discusses the principles behind the Truth and Memory program, and explains the imperatives of uncovering, acknowledging, and memorializing the past.

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.

The recent re-election of Colombia’s president, Juan Manuel Santos, brings hope to a country seeking to end a half-century of conflict. But, as with so many peace processes, finding a balance between creating a stable accord and acknowledging the terrible injustices that occurred during the conflict can be difficult to achieve.

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.

Truth commissions can make important contributions to peace processes if all parties can agree on common objectives and there is genuine local political will to shed light on past events. This is the key finding of a new study – titled “Challenging the Conventional: Can Truth Commissions Strengthen Peace Processes?” – to be released on 19 June 2014 by ICTJ and the Kofi Annan Foundation.

A new study from the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) shows that the Kenyan government has not effectively addressed the harms suffered by victims of sexual crimes committed during the violence that followed Kenya's disputed 2007 elections or ensured the accountability of perpetrators.

Seven and a half years after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, Nepal's Parliament voted to establish the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and a Commission of Investigation on Disappeared Persons. In this op-ed, ICTJ's Eduardo González Cueva explains why many victims have rejected the bill.

One year after its release, ICTJ presents a critical overview of the Final Report of Kenya’s Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission in a new study released today. The ICTJ study argues that, despite the controversies that surrounded the commission during its tenure, the Final Report should be read and treated with seriousness by those who support human rights and the rule of law in Kenya.

As Nepal’s Parliament discussed key proposal to establish truth-seeking bodies, the ICTJ expresses deep concern that the bill retains flaws already rejected by the country’s Supreme Court in January.

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.

Join ICTJ and the Center for Global Affairs for a conversation on how the ICC and the African Union can move forward, and what the AU position means for effective prosecutions within Africa and elsewhere.

Can truth commissions help secure a just peace following a violent conflict in which massive human rights abuses are committed? In this special series of the ICTJ Forum, we present a series of conversations with some of the world’s top peace mediators and truth commission experts, whose collective experience include years on the front lines of critical peace agreements in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

Dating back to the 1980s, when peace settlements were made across Latin America, truth commissions have become an important component of peace negotiations. In this opinion piece, ICTJ President David Tolbert calls for societies to give truth commissions a chance of fulfilling their potential by learning from their failures and success.

In this op-ed marking Universal Children’s Day, ICTJ's Virginie Ladisch explains why within transitional justice, the capacity to make positive choices and demonstrate moral agency are attributes that need to be encouraged and fostered in children, especially former child soldiers.

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.

In a legal brief submitted yesterday to Kenya’s High Court, the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) warns that striking down parts of the final report of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission of Kenya (TJRC) would amount to censorship and obstruct the right of victims to an effective remedy for past violations.

Enforced disappearances are among the cruelest of crimes. To the kidnapping, torture, and in many cases, murder of the victim, perpetrators intentionally create fear and uncertainty about the fate of the missing person. Although men are predominantly targeted, the impact on women is severe and lasting.

In a briefing paper released on the eve of the International Day of the Disappeared, ICTJ documents the experience of the wives of the disappeared in Nepal and calls for measures to address the poverty, social stigma, and legal limbo they continue to face in their day-to-day lives.

In the brutality of armed conflict or tyranny of a repressive regime, many who go missing are never found again: whether “disappeared” by agents of the state or abducted by an armed faction, the whereabouts of thousands are still unknown to this day. On this International Day of the Disappeared, ICTJ recognizes that enforced disappearances constitute crimes against humanity, and they affect women in ways unique from the impact on men.

Children and youth are especially vulnerable to the effects of conflict and gross human rights violations. In this edition of the ICTJ Program Report, ICTJ's Children and Youth Program Director Virginie Ladisch talks with us about the importance of integrating child and youth sensitivity into transitional justice mechanisms.

In a new op-ed, ICTJ Vice President Paul Seils argues that Kenya’s Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) should have been the shining light that led the way in restoring trust and confidence in office holders, institutions and government. Instead, its final report is mired in pointless controversy. Now, Kenya has a key opportunity to address allegations that the president's office interfered with the report's findings.

The International Center for Transitional Justice ICTJ welcomes the release of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) Report, which is the result of an official truth-seeking process undertaken by Kenya following the 2007/2008 post-election violence. The report shares the TJRC’s findings on gross violations of human rights, economic crimes, illegal acquisition of public land, marginalization of communities, and ethnic violence between 1963 and 2008.

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.

ICTJ released a briefing paper today examining current opportunities for prosecuting serious crimes within Kenya’s national judicial system, including crimes committed during the postelection violence of late 2007 and early 2008 (PEV), which claimed 1,113 lives and displaced an estimated 660,000 people. Titled “Prosecuting International and Other Serious Crimes in Kenya,” the paper looks at legal and institutional reforms that may be needed at the national level to effectively investigate and prosecute the worst crimes of the PEV period, including murder, serious assault, and rape.

The latest episode of the ICTJ forum features analysis of significant transitional justice news, including breaking developments in Kenya, Tunisia, and Syria. ICTJ Vice President Paul Seils and Truth and Memory program Director Eduardo Gonzalez join Communications Director Refik Hodzic for this expert discussion. [Download](/sites/default/files//ICTJ-Forum-March-2013.mp3) | Duration: 31:42mins | File size: 22,290 KB

In this edition of ICTJ's Program report, Kelli Muddell, director of ICTJ's Gender Justice program, reflects on ICTJ’s vision of gender justice, the challenges facing survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in times of transition, and how ICTJ is working to address inequality in countries like Colombia, Nepal, and Tunisia.

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.

In a major effort to promote accountability for serious crimes in Africa, ICTJ joined hundreds of human rights groups and transitional justice partners to ask the African Union to prioritize justice. Addressed to the new African Union (AU) Chairperson Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the letter warns that strained relationships between the AU and the International Criminal Court (ICC) may put justice at risk.

As attested by the arrest on January 3, 2013 in the United Kingdom of Kumar Lama, a Nepali Army Colonel suspected of torture, the government of Nepal’s failure to pursue truth and accountability for conflict-era violations can have serious consequences. Rather than resisting UK efforts to implement its obligations under international law, the Nepali government should develop a full transitional justice programme and redouble its efforts to provide truth, justice and reparations inside the country.

The findings of Kenya's Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) were due to be released in August of this year, providing citizens with a comprehensive report that establishes the facts, causes and alleged perpetrators of serious crimes in Kenya since its independence, almost 50 years ago. To date, Kenyans are still waiting to learn the truth.

Six years after the conflict ended, the government of Nepal has failed to initiate a comprehensive investigation into the past. As a result, it has failed to uphold the rights of victims and Nepali society to know the truth about abuses. Inaction is particularly cruel regarding the relatives of the disappeared, for whom lack of information on the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones equates to permanent anguish and extreme suffering.

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.

On International Children’s Day, ICTJ reaffirms the importance of an active role of children and youth in transitional justice processes, such as truth-seeking, criminal accountability, and reparations programs. In the aftermath of societal upheaval, the voices of children and youth are often absent from peace negotiations and subsequent transitional processes. Though children and youth must be able to receive adequate care and necessary rehabilitation, they must not be regarded only as victims of massive human rights abuses: they are rights-bearing members of a society trying to confront the past, and active participants in the process of social change aiming for a new future. It is in the best interest of children and youth, as well as the societies in which they live, to participate in transitional justice processes, devised to reestablish rule of law and civic trust in the societies to which they belong.

The latest episode of ICTJ Forum, a monthly podcast looking into recent news and events from around the world, features ICTJ President David Tolbert, Truth and Memory Program Director Eduardo Gonzalez, and Africa Program Director Suliman Baldo. They join host and Communications Director Refik Hodzic for an in-depth analysis of recent developments in Kenya, the former Yugoslavia, and Colombia.

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.

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.

In the first ICTJ Forum, transitional justice experts discuss the upcoming peace negotiations between the Colombian government and leftist FARC rebels, the UN Security Council debate on accountability for crimes against children, the proposed ordinance on a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Nepal, and the first report to the UN Human Rights Council by the recently appointed Special Rapporteur on 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.

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.

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.