Resource Library

ICTJ's expert conference on the relationship between truth-seeking and indigenous rights is in session. View the live stream here.

ICTJ hosted a conference on “Strengthening Indigenous Rights through Truth Commissions” July 19-21, 2011. Regional and international experts convened to discuss how truth commissions can incorporate and address indigenous peoples’ rights. Videos of each session and summaries of the conference proceedings are available.

In Africa's Great Lakes region, countries face common challenges like bad governance, inequitable distribution of natural resources, and ethnic divisions. As nations like Burundi, Central African Republic and South Sudan work towards peacebuilding and accountability, they should learn from what has worked and what has not in neighboring countries, writes Sarah Kihika Kasande, ICTJ's Head of Office in Uganda.

Given the political challenges emerging from authoritarian states and conflicts in Africa, what is the best way to pursue accountability for violations of international human rights and humanitarian law on the continent? ICTJ experts Chris Gitari and Howard Varney sit down to discuss regional initiatives, complementarity, and other strategies for pursuing accountability.

The role of police in society is to protect residents and enforce the rule of law. As a public institution, and particularly one whose function includes the state-sanctioned use of force, the effectiveness of the police depends on its integrity and legitimacy. When the police abuses its power, by brutalizing civilians and or engaging in corruption, it loses its credibility and the public’s trust. In Kenya, enforcement of measures to halt the spread of COVID-19 have been accompanied by acts of police brutality, of the kind that Kenyans have been through multiple times before.

On February 14, Kenyans once again confronted their painful relationship with law enforcement and revisited the deep mistrust born of historical abuses. In an unprecedented ruling, a court found five senior police officers potentially culpable in gruesome murder during the police response to the 2017 post-election protests. On the same day, a senior police officer was convicted of murder and jailed for life.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the publication of Children of Cain, the first book by writer and journalist Tina Rosenberg. ICTJ spoke with Rosenberg about how political violence has evolved in Latin America over the past 20 years, and the continuing need for accountability for past atrocities.

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...

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the publication of Children of Cain, the first book by writer and journalist Tina Rosenberg. ICTJ spoke with Rosenberg about how political violence has evolved in Latin America over the past 20 years, and the continuing need for accountability for past atrocities.

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.

As we search for ways to halt the violence and foster lasting peace in societies grappling with a legacy of massive human rights abuse, there is arguably no more important day to reflect upon the importance of the struggle for truth and justice than today, March 24. Thus, we take a moment to mark the International Day for the Right to the Truth concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims.

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.

ICTJ talked to Kenyan youth leader Carine Umutoniwase to know how learning from a violent past inspires youth in countries recovering from conflict and repression to avoid past mistakes and to come up with solutions that contribute towards a more just and accountable society.

The African Union, the Kofi Annan Foundation and ICTJ opened a high-level conference examining the role of truth commissions in peace processes. The two-day conference, titled “Truth Commissions and Peace Processes in Africa,” has gathered senior staff from the African Union and member states as well as international and national experts to reflect on lessons learned from truth commissions that have emerged from peace processes in Africa and other continents.

During a thematic hearing December 13–14, Kenya's Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) heard testimonies from children on their own experiences as part of the commission's investigation into gross human rights violations and historical injustices in the country between 1963 and 2008.

The brazen abduction and brutal murder of human rights lawyer Willie Kimani, his client, Josephat Mwenda, and their taxi driver, Joseph Muiruri, underlines once more the urgent need for police reform in Kenya says ICTJ's Christopher Gitari.

On International Women's Day, ICTJ Gender Justice Senior Associate Amrita Kapur highlights how insecurity affects women and is key to overcoming inequality across all dimensions of empowerment. "Without including institutional reform, we are condemning women to another century of inequality," she writes in this op-ed.

In 1986, Wachira Waheire was whisked off the street, taken to Kenya's most infamous torture chamber, and sentenced to four years in prison. Over the next 30 years, his quest for justice led him to meetings with his torturers to courtroom showdowns with the country's Attorney General. Discover his ongoing struggle for truth, acknowledgement, and reparations alongside all survivors of abuse in Kenya.

On International Youth Day, ICTJ reaffirms the importance of engaging youth in efforts to reckon with the past in societies grappling with repressive and violent histories.