Resource Library

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.

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.

ICTJ participated in the launch of a new report on the relationship between transitional justice and development, launched by the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida).

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.

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.

Guatemalan lawyers for victims in the case against former dictator Efraín Ríos Mont filed a petition before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to condemn the state of Guatemala for the impunity for crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity committed against the Ixil people.

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 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.

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.

The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) welcomes today’s verdict in Guatemala by the High Risk Court in the trial of former military dictator José Efrain Ríos Montt. The 86-year-old ex-general was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity against the indigenous Mayan Ixil population during Guatemala’s Civil War. He was sentenced to a total of 80 years in prison. José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez, the co-accused, who headed military intelligence under Ríos Montt, was found innocent.

Nine international human rights and legal groups have welcomed the resumption of the Guatemalan trial of Efraín Ríos Montt, the former military dictator, for genocide and crimes against humanity. The trial has taken another step towards its conclusion with the hearing of final arguments from the prosecution and victims’ representatives today and yesterday.

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.

Four international legal and human rights groups are together urging all concerned to ensure that the current trial in Guatemala of former president Efrain Rios Montt on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity proceeds with due respect for judicial independence. The four are: the Open Society Justice Initiative, the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), and the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA).

In this op-ed, ICTJ's Marcie Mersky argues that the significance of the genocide trial for José Efraín Ríos Montt stretches far beyond Guatemala: it is the first time that a former head of state is being tried for genocide in a credible national court, by the national authorities, in the country where the alleged crimes took place.

On Tuesday, March 19, the genocide trial of General Efraín Ríos Montt began at the High Risk Tribunal in Guatemala. To talk about this historic development in Guatemala’s pursuit of accountability we talk with us one of the key players: Guatemalan Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz Bailey

On a historic day for justice in Guatemala and the world, the trial for Guatemala’s former military dictator José Efraín Ríos Montt began this morning in Guatemala City. Ríos Montt and his co-accused, José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez – are standing trial on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity during the civil war in Guatemala, in which some 200,000 people were killed or disappeared, a majority of them indigenous Maya.

From February 27-March 1, leading indigenous rights activists from around the world will join their counterparts and other experts at Columbia University to discuss access to truth, justice, and reconciliation for indigenous peoples.

Indigenous rights are increasingly being addressed through different transitional justice measures, and ICTJ is actively involved in the discourse on how truth commissions and other transitional justice mechanisms can help the struggle for the rights of indigenous people.

The decision of a judge in Guatemala City to send former military dictator Efraín Ríos Montt to trial on charges of genocide and war crimes is a watershed moment in the country’s complex journey towards a genuine respect for the rule of law. This genocide trial - the first genuine attempt anywhere to prosecute a former head of state in his own country on charges of genocide – has the potential to shatter a significant part of the wall of denial that surrounds Guatemala. For that to happen, the trial must be fair and free of intimidation, argues ICTJ Vice President Paul Seils in this op-ed.