Resource Library

With enforced disappearances on the rise, ICTJ President David Tolbert says the path to prevention is clear: the international community must reorder its priorities and change its approach. The disproportionate attention on counterterrorism takes us further away from accountability and prevention, Tolbert writes. He urges the international community to lead the way in unequivocally censoring governments that use enforced disappearance as a political tactic — and ensuring there can be no impunity for this crime.

A new ICTJ report on truth and memory in Nepal sparked discussion – and calls for victim-centered policies – at national and local launch events.

Is reconciliation a central aim of transitional justice processes? Or does it have different bearings in different settings? A new paper presents possible understandings of the concept of reconciliation as well as its relationship to the field of transitional justice.

ICTJ is pleased to announce an intensive course on transitional justice and peace processes to be held in Barcelona, Spain on October 9-13. Applications are now open.

In the Netherlands, a court sentenced an arms dealer to 19 years in prison for his role in war crimes in Liberia. What does his case tell us about pursuing justice for economic crimes in Liberia and beyond?

The taboo around sexual violence against men and boys can leave victims in the shadows, write ICTJ's Kelli Muddell and Sibley Hawkins. Without acknowledgment of these crimes, efforts to address injustices of the past will be hard-pressed to develop inclusive and effective responses.

As ICTJ looks back on its 15 years of work, join us in celebrating our allies across the globe who struggle for human rights, against impunity. To honor their efforts in the trenches of this struggle, we will bring you their stories in the weeks and months to come. This is the story of Mark Thompson, CEO of Relatives for Justice, a group struggling for truth and justice in Northern Ireland.

Six years into the carnage in Syria, atrocious crimes run rampant, with savage abuses committed against all groups in the devastated country, and the murderous regime, abetted by powerful allies, is still in power. The UN Security Council remains deadlocked and unable to take any steps towards...

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. Reshma Thapa, former ICTJ senior program associate in Nepal (2009- 2013), looks back on one particularly poignant dance shared among women in a small village.

As we look back on 15 years of ICTJ's work, we recognize that our greatest asset is the people whose knowledge, experience, and dedication made our contribution possible. To celebrate all who have been part of ICTJ’s story over the years, we asked some of our former colleagues to share their...

Jaya Luintel was a radio reporter in Nepal during the country's civil war, covering the conflict's impact on women. Now, she's helping female victims produce and broadcast their own stories to a national audience. Discover how her organization, The Story Kitchen, empowers women in Nepal.

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.

Ukraine's Maidan Revolution in 2014 ushered in a wave of decommunization efforts, ostensibly in order to ensure respect for human rights and to prevent a recurrence of the crimes of Communist and Nazi regimes. However, the laws were largely a product of contentious politics of memory: they further a particular understanding of past events that will likely continue to fuel division and distrust among Ukrainians, and between Ukraine and Russia.

In a society grappling with the legacy of the past, citizens must make informed judgements and disentangle the facts from the sticky web of political rhetoric, denial, and polarizing propaganda. To do so, they rely on one key agent of social change: the media. But how can transitional processes effectively partner with the media and engage key constituencies? And what happens when media play a decisively negative role in mediating information about war crimes?

On International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the families of the missing maintain their vow: "until we find them." As special bodies to search for their loved ones develop, what do victims expect?

1,300 are still missing in Nepal, nearly a decade after the country's bloody civil war ended. The peace agreement was meant to provide for the families of the disappeared, but today they are still searching for answers. As a new government body begins investigations, victims wonder: is the commission fully committed to addressing their needs?

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.

This summer, our Intensive Course on Transitional Justice and Peace Processes brought experts from around the world together in Barcelona to examine how transitional mechanisms can be integrated into peace negotiations. Read about the course and watch interviews with our experts.

Think you're an expert on how national courts and the ICC work together? Put your knowledge to the test!

The struggle against impunity remains as important –and precarious –as ever as we celebrate International Justice Day on July 17. ICTJ marks the occasion with a look at complementarity, a concept critical to understanding the role that the ICC and national courts play in this struggle.

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

More than 1,000 people remain unaccounted for in Nepal following a decade of violence that concluded in 2006, and a new official body aims to shed light on these abductions. To support this critical mandate, ICTJ hosted an intensive three-week course for the commission, providing the technical and operational support necessary to finally tell the truth about Nepal’s disappeared.

After a society is torn apart by conflict or repression, who decides whether to remember or forget the painful past? Can forgiveness happen without acknowledgement of wrongdoing? Is there a difference between forgetting and denial? Join us as ICTJ debates the impact of remembrance on reconciliation with David Rieff and Pablo de Greiff.

What happens when a state refuses to acknowledge the suffering of victims of mass atrocities? Or when the public celebrates perpetrators as heroes? Earlier this month, a panel discussion hosted by The International Center for Transitional Justice and New York University’s Center for Global Affairs grappled with the impact of denial on justice.

In this op-ed, ICTJ Vice President Paul Seils calls on the international community to prioritize the return of Syrian refugees to their homes instead of posturing about Assad's ouster.