Resource Library

The report by the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict has reaffirmed the importance of justice in the pursuit of sustainable peace in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Released September 15, 2009, the 575-page report (PDF) documents violations of international law...

Your Excellency, We, the undersigned civil society organizations, are writing to urge your government to support recommendations in the Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (Goldstone Report) and work with others in the General Assembly to secure adoption of a...

ICTJ and the Center for Global Affairs of New York University (NYU) co-hosted a panel discussion on the impact of international ad hoc tribunals in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and the possible lessons these courts’ experiences hold for the International Criminal Court (ICC). In a discussion...

On March 31, 2010, the Serbian parliament adopted a declaration "condemning in strongest terms the crime committed in July 1995 against Bosniac population of Srebrenica" and apologizing to the families of the victims. The declaration is a step in the right direction and, potentially, an educational...

NEW YORK, Oct. 4, 2010 --Ten years after Israeli security forces killed 13 Palestinian demonstrators, 12 of them citizens of Israel, the families' calls for accountability have gone unanswered, the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) said today. "Despite an official commission of...

Civil Society Groups Protest Attempts to Derail Justice for Victims of Post-Election Violence (Johannesburg, January 25, 2011) —The Kenyan government should reaffirm its commitment to the International Criminal Court (ICC), African civil society organizations and international organizations with a...

Des associations de la société civile africaine protestent contre les tentatives visant à empêcher que justice soit rendue aux victimes des violences postélectorales (Johannesburg, le 25 janvier 2011) —Le gouvernement kényan devrait réaffirmer son engagement en faveur de la Cour pénale...

NEW YORK, Feb. 3, 2011 —The Egyptian government should immediately order the release of human rights activists being held by security forces in Cairo, said the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) today following reports of activists from Hisham Mubarak Legal Centre, the Egyptian...

Habib Nassar, director of ICTJ’s Middle East and North Africa Program, traveled to Tunis last week to bring the organization’s expertise to the discussion on how such a strategy might be shaped. On his return to New York, he shared what he learned in this podcast interview. [Download](/sites/default/files/ICTJ-Tunisia-Transition-Nassar-Podcast-02-10-2011.mp3) | Duration: 8mins | File size: 4.5MB

As President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt has agreed to step down after 18 days of protests, ICTJ looks to how Egypt will begin transforming in terms of justice and accountability.

NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2011 —As Egyptians redesign their constitution and political system, they should also consider meaningful ways to address legacies of human rights violations, the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) said today. "Egyptian officials should seize the opportunity to...

NEW YORK, Feb. 22, 2011 —As violence surges in Libya, the African Union, the Arab League and the United Nations must urgently establish investigation mechanisms into the allegations of unlawful killings and other serious violations of international law. Those responsible for planning and ordering...

“People are very optimistic,” Suliman Baldo, ICTJ's Africa Director, says in an interview during his current visit this week to Juba, South Sudan. “At the same time, people are apprehensive because there are many serious issues, and sensitive ones, which have not been addressed, that were supposed to be addressed prior to the referendum.” [Download](/sites/default/files/ICTJ-Sudan-Referendum-Baldo-Podcast-03-03-2011.mp3) | Duration: 7mins | File size: 4MB

NEW YORK, Mar. 3, 2011 —The international community should maintain the robust stance for accountability in Libya that it has shown in recent days, said the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) today after welcoming the decision of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court...

Paul Seils, ICTJ’s legal counsel, recently traveled to Haiti to speak with justice actors about the cases against Duvalier, the potential for a public forum to bring out more information about the Duvalier period and how the judiciary can ensure a trial that is fair and allows for the participation of victims of rights violations during that period. [Download](/sites/default/files/ICTJ-Haiti-Duvalier-Prosecution-Seils-Podcast-03-09-2011.mp3) | Duration: 7mins | File size: 4MB

NAIROBI/NEW YORK, March 10, 2011 —As a signatory to the Rome Statute, Kenya should continue to meet all of its obligations to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC), the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) said after the ICC issued summonses for the appearance of six...

ICTJ congratulates Skylight Pictures on the latest film in its transitional justice series, "Granito: How to Nail a Dictator." "Granito," meaning "tiny grain of sand," invokes the ideas and possibilities of collective change. The film highlights this concept and the connections between documentation and the pursuit of justice. [Download](/sites/default/files/Yates_ICTJ_Podcast_03172011.mp3) | Duration: 8mins | File size: 4.6MB

NEW YORK, Mar. 18, 2011 —“Those responsible for the shelling of a market in Abidjan must be identified and held accountable,” said ICTJ president David Tolbert referring to yesterday’s attack on a food market in Abobo, a suburb of the Ivory Coast’s capital, in which 100 people were killed or wounded...

Ruben Carranza, director of ICTJ’s Reparative Justice Program, just returned from The Hague where he and Guy Mushiata, legal officer for ICTJ in Democratic Republic of Congo, led a seminar for the International Criminal Court (ICC) and Trust Fund for Victims about the mechanics of reparations programs. [Download](/sites/default/files/ICTJ-Reparations-ICC-Carranza-Podcast-03-30-2011.mp3) | Duration: 8mins | File size: 4.7MB

JAKARTA/NEW YORK, April 7, 2011 —A joint report released today by the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) and KontraS (the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence) examines the variety of state-sponsored initiatives to address mass violations of human rights in...

CAPE TOWN, April 8, 2011 —In a landmark judgment handed down today the Constitutional Court upheld the rights of victims of apartheid era abuses, as well as the media and public, to speak the truth about crimes amnestied by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The court held that truth...

TUNIS/NEW YORK, April 12, 2011 —The proceedings at the ‘Addressing the Past, Building the Future: Justice in Times of Transition’ conference, which is to be held in Tunis April 14-15, will be reported on a conference blog set up by the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ). The...

TUNIS, Apr. 14, 2011 —The international conference on transitional justice, Addressing the Past, Building the Future, opened this morning in Tunis with more than 150 participants from Tunisia and other countries of the Middle East and North Africa. In sessions dealing with transitional justice...

The international conference on transitional justice 'Addressing the Past, Building the Future: Justice in Times of Transition' concluded today in Tunis, following two days of discussions on justice models and measures implemented in transitions. View the conference blog The conference explored...

It is highly unlikely that we will see ad hoc international tribunals or elaborate hybrid courts such as the SCSL and the ECCC in the future, asserted ICTJ President David Tolbert at an expert meeting about the future of international justice in light of past experiences and progress made at the...

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...

The allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the final phases of the conflict in Sri Lanka, made in the Report of the Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka released on April 25, must be thoroughly investigated. This is the first comprehensive UN report examining the events in the Vanni region between January and May of 2009 and it alleges that “tens of thousands of civilians” were killed. The Government of Sri Lanka, but also the relevant international bodies, cannot claim credibility if these findings are ignored.

Some habits die hard. This is especially true of ways of thinking. Despite significant changes in national and international law and practice in the last thirty years—the period that corresponds with the emergence of transitional justice as a field—the recent upheaval in the Middle East and Northern Africa region has provoked proposals that hearken back to a period that we may have thought long gone.

South Africa’s Constitutional Court recently made a landmark ruling on the right to speak the truth about crimes amnestied by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. ICTJ Truth-Seeking Consultant Howard Varney speaks about the ruling and its significance for South Africa and other countries.

As the number of victims of violence against demonstrators in Syria, Yemen, Bahrain and elsewhere in the region rises, a question emerges for the government of Bashar al-Assad of Syria, but also those of Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen, Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifah of Bahrain and the vacillating international community: Can impunity for such crimes be permitted in this day and age?

As the United States and global audiences were informed of the death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of U.S. special forces, we are reminded how crucially important justice is in the discourse on America’s fight against terrorism. On the eve of these momentous events, ICTJ President David Tolbert spoke to an audience at American University in Washington about the need for the U.S. to ensure accountability for the conduct of its “war on terror.”

ICTJ is pleased to announce the appointment of Theodore M. Shaw to its Governance Board. Mr. Shaw is an internationally recognized leader in the field of civil rights law. His broad experience as a civil rights advocate and scholar will bring added strategic vision to the Center’s board.

For a long time, making compromises on justice with powerful perpetrators of mass atrocities has been an integral part of peace negotiations ending conflicts. The immediate concern of ending the violence often resulted in amnesties for war crimes and crimes against humanity, sometimes even...

BOGOTÁ, May 12, 2011 —The decision by President Juan Manuel Santos to recognize the existence of an internal armed conflict in Colombia is a positive step toward transparency and truth-telling in that country, ICTJ said today. The Colombian government has denied for years the existence of an internal armed conflict there, although it was never in doubt from an international law perspective.

As the United States and Colombia near the signing of a free-trade agreement and resolve differences over labor rights and other issues, the problematic extraditions of paramilitaries accused of savage crimes committed during the years of counter-insurgency remain far from the spotlight.

ICTJ spoke with Marlon Weichert, prominent human rights advocate and regional prosecutor with the Federal Public Ministry of Brazil (Ministério Público Federal), on Brazil's pending truth commission bill and calls for accountability measures addressing past violations in Brazil.

Brazil’s new government is showing strong support for the passage of a bill creating a National Truth Commission investigating past human rights violations, writes Eduardo González, director of ICTJ's Truth and Memory Program. ICTJ also spoke with Marlon Weichert, human rights activist and regional prosecutor for Brazil's Federal Public Ministry, on the current debate surrounding truth-seeking and accountability in Brazil.

May 24, 2011 – The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), Curious Pictures and Pivot Pictures hosted the premier of The Axe and the Tree: Zimbabwe’s Legacy of Political Violence at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Houghton, South Africa.

ICTJ is pleased to announce two films premiering at the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival (HRWIFF) in June. IMPUNITY (New York premiere) + Q&A with filmmakers What is the cost of truth for families immobilized by Colombia’s violent past? In 2005, Colombia started gathering evidence...

ICTJ is pleased to present Burma Soldier, a harrowing documentary telling the story of Myo Myint, a soldier for the Burmese army turned pro-democracy activist. Myo Myint’s extraordinary story brings him from the front lines of a little talked about war, to fighting for democracy alongside Aung San Suu Kyi, to solitary confinement in Burma’s toughest prisons. [Download](/sites/default/files/ICTJ_Podcast_Burma_Soldier_05312011-1_0.mp3) | Duration: 7mins | File size: 4MB

The arrest of Ratko Mladic reignited debates on a wide spectrum of related issues, from its implications on the prospects for true reckoning with the past in the countries of the former Yugoslavia to the possible jolt it will give to Serbia’s hopes of joining the European Union. Beyond the immediate impact on the region, the strongest reverberations of Mladic’s transfer to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) will be felt in the discourse on international justice.

On May 11, the South African Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DOJ) invited comments on new regulations governing the distribution of reparations to victims of the apartheid era in the form of medical and educational benefits. Civil society organizations and groups representing survivors’ interests have raised concerns regarding the scope of the regulations, as well as the DOJ’s overall failure to engage with survivors and consider their views when drafting reparations policies.

Earlier this month, South Africa’s Department of Justice and Constitutional Development proposed draft regulations relating to reparations for apartheid-era victims. In an ICTJ podcast, Dr. Marjorie Jobson, National Director of the Khulumani Support Group assesses the draft regulations and puts forth ideas on how to better address victims’ needs. [Download](/sites/default/files//sites/default/files/Jobson_ICTJ_Podcast_05302011.mp3) | Duration: 7mins | File size: 4MB

In this week’s podcast Michael Reed Hurtado, head of ICTJ’s Colombia program, discusses Colombia’s transition and ongoing conflict and how the films La Toma (The Siege) and Impunity reflect the processes he sees on the ground. [Download](/sites/default/files/Reed_ICTJ_Podcast_06052011.mp3) | Duration: 7mins | File size: 3.85MB

In April, the World Bank released its 2011 World Development Report (WDR) entitled Conflict, Security, and Development. It is the first WDR that links transitional justice to security and development and places human rights violations at the heart of its analysis of conflict. ICTJ has produced a fact sheet outlining the core findings of the report as they pertain to transitional justice.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) must better communicate what is driving its actions to the public of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and elsewhere around the world if it is to develop confidence in its capacity to act as a guardian of international criminal law.

ICTJ has released One morning they came to our community: Stories of political violence in communities of Peru , a compilation of victims’ stories about Peru’s internal armed conflict from 1980 to 2000. The stories constitute an important form of recognizing the truth, as well as a demand for justice and reparations.

The UN Human Rights Council and its mechanisms, notably the system of special procedures, have approached justice for mass atrocities in a piecemeal and sometimes politicized manner, according to a new ICTJ policy briefing .

The Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) will hold its second of seven national events from June 28 to July 1 in Inuvik, Northwest Territories. The event will provide survivors of Canada’s Indian Residential Schools (IRS) and other participants an opportunity to contribute to documenting and publicizing what took place in this program of forced assimilation.

Suliman Baldo, director of ICTJ’s Africa Program, just returned from the Ivory Coast, where he was one of three members of a UN Commission of Inquiry that delivered a report on post-election violence to the UN Human Rights Council on June 15. [Download](/sites/default/files/Baldo_ICTJ_Podcast_06232011.mp3) | Duration: 12mins | File size: 6.8MB