Resource Library

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.

Chile has shown slow but steady progress on ​criminal justice​​. Two recent court decisions convicted a total of 139 ​state ​agents for their roles in the enforced disappearances of 21 Chileans. The rulings – one handed down by the Supreme Court, the other by a first instance judge – highlight the growing momentum towards obtaining justice for victims of the 1973-1990 dictatorship​.​

Children born of wartime sexual violence often face rejection from the communities their mothers call home. For these families, the failure of the state to address the harm they suffered and the enduring stigma leads to their further marginalization. An ICTJ film on this stigma, and the paths to overcome it, sparked discussion at a panel held at the Austrian Mission to the United Nations.

Even in the face of ongoing brutality, many of the nearly 12 million Syrians displaced by the conflict long for their return home – dependent, of course, on certain conditions being met. For our latest report, ICTJ interviewed dozens of Syrians refugees in Lebanon to discuss the impact of the conflict on their lives, their expectations for a potential return home, and their view of what coexistence in Syria might look like. We sat down with the report's authors, Rim El-Gantri and Karim El Mufti, to discuss their findings.

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.

Ongoing economic and social inequality, a legacy of the dictatorship, affects Tunisians across generations, but has particularly pronounced impacts on young people. ICTJ worked with four young photographers to confront the consequences of marginalization and explore its impacts on Tunisian youth. Their four photo galleries comprise the exhibition "Marginalization in Tunisia: Images of an Invisible Repression.”

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. Virginie Ladisch and Clara Ramirez-Barat recall how one Canadian student, in exploring the legacy of the country's Residential Schools, arrived at the concept of "never again."

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?

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.

The impact of Tunisia's transitional justice process is rooted in its ability to give voice to diverse segments of the population, including historically marginalized communities. A workshop hosted by ICTJ brought generations of women together to explore truth-telling techniques and create space for all voices.

Money alone cannot compensate sexual violence committed on a massive scale, particularly when such crimes are accompanied by other forms of violations affecting entire communities. ICTJ's Cristián Correa examines how rehabilitation, education, and acknowledgement can bring victims closer to full restitution for their suffering.

For decades, successive Myanmar political and military leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi’s, have flatly denied what millions of their citizens know: that the military has committed and continues to commit human rights violations. A new UN inquiry into those crimes is provides a moment of truth for Suu Kyi's commitment to justice, writes ICTJ's Aileen Thomson.

In today’s United States, civic trust that has been systematically eroded among many communities of color. There is little basis, either historically or in the current political atmosphere, for African Americans and other minorities to have this essential trust in government institutions, particularly in the police. To build that relationship, there must first be a reckoning, writes ICTJ President David Tolbert.

To mark 15 years of ICTJ, we asked staff past and present for the memories that stand out from their work. Former ICTJ consultant and Executive Director of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Greensboro, North Carolina Jill Williams reflects on her efforts to bridge a cultural gap in the pursuit of shared values.

A new ICTJ report argues that in Africa's interconnected Great Lakes region, each country’s attempt to provide justice for past violations offers lessons for similar processes in others. We gathered civil society activists from across the region to discuss which strategies have worked for them, which have not, and opened up about the greatest challenges they face in securing justice.

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.

On the International Day for the Right to Truth we spotlight one of the most powerful ways truth commissions can reassert victims' dignity: public hearings. These open events can have a potentially cathartic power for victims and their families, but also the public at large by generating solidarity and empathy for the suffering of others in societies deeply polarized and traumatized by atrocities and denial.

In Tunisia, the Truth and Dignity Commission's public hearings have fundamentally altered the dialogue around the past in Tunisia. To mark the International Day for the Right to Truth ICTJ Director of Communications Refik Hodzic sat down with two women whose work has been critical to the success of the commission – ICTJ Salwa El Gantri and TDC Commissioner Ibtihel Abdellatif – to discuss what they have taken away from public hearings so far.

In Tunisia, public hearings have fundamentally changed public dialogue about the past. The Truth and Dignity Commission will hold special session scheduled to coincide with the International Day for the Right to the Truth on March 24th. Watch live here:

The right to the truth carries special resonance in Kenya, and so on March 24th Kenyan state agencies, survivors, civil society organizations, and international partners will join together in Nairobi to observe the International Day for the Right to the Truth. It provides an opportunity not just for remembrance, but also for greater dialogue between the government and victims about the implementation of reparations programs and of the findings presented in the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission's final report.

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.

Tunisia's Truth and Dignity Commission continues its public hearings, focusing on violations of digital freedom.

At 3 pm, Eastern Time, Tunisia's Truth and Dignity Commission is scheduled to resume its public hearings with a session focusing on violations against women. Watch the livesteam below and follow us on twitter at @theICTJ for live coverage.

ICTJ is pleased to announce that Anil Soni, Head of Global Infectious Diseases at Mylan, has joined its Advisory Board. "We are honored to welcome Anil Soni as the newest member of ICTJ’s leadership. As a respected figure in the global health community with ample experience at international NGOs, he...

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...