Resource Library

The United States has never collectively confronted its history of colonialism, slavery, and racism in an effort to reform the systems that perpetuate harms to Black communities and other marginalized groups, or to redress these wrongs. Events in recent years, however, have amplified ...

George Floyd’s death reignited existing anger over American society’s deep and festering racial wounds. His death triggered significant social uprisings that have challenged the methods of policing that have emerged over the course of several decades. With a growing awareness of polic...

At a time when truth-seeking and reparations initiatives are taking hold across the United States, this report offers reflections from various civil society-led truth-seeking processes. Drawing on case studies from the United States, Colombia, Scotland, and West Papua, the report iden...

This study explores specialized units established in 23 countries to investigate and prosecute serious international crimes. Notwithstanding the challenges faced by these units, the study concludes that countries with a specialized institutional approach are considerably more successf...

This study explores a transitional justice approach to the dilemma of foreign fighters in violent conflict. Such an approach can help center human rights in comprehensive responses to foreign fighters, and shift the current focus from security and punishment to justice and long-term p...

This briefing paper examines how transitional justice approaches can guide the discussion around dismantling systemic racism in the United States to focus on root causes of violence and racial injustice. Drawing from relevant experiences internationally and within the United States, i...

This report aims to help practitioners in the transitional justice field to understand the experience of establishing and operating hybrid courts and to address some common assumptions about these entities. To do so, it looks at hybrid or mixed courts in practice, drawing on experienc...

In transitional contexts, reporting does not simply present the facts, but instead shapes the parameters for interpreting divisive political issues. Coverage in such polarized contexts can mitigate or obscure the substance of transitional justice efforts to establish what happened, wh...

In cases other than those of environmental disasters, some mix of persecution and fear of violence based on ethnicity, race, or religion, plus violations of human rights and repression based on political beliefs and opinions often characterizes forced displacement for both internally ...

This paper is concerned with the relationship between criminal justice and displacement that has taken place as a result of serious violations of international humanitarian law, and considers these issues within the context of justice efforts in the former Yugoslavia. It argues that ...

As with most post-conflict challenges, the issues of displaced populations and weak security institutions each have profound effects on the other. A common cause of displacement in post-conflict environments is a lack of physical security, either because formal security institutions ...

This joint report by ICTJ and the Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy (ELSHAM-Papua) provides important insight into the ongoing debate on steps required to achieve a sustainable peace in Papua. The report reviews Papua's recent history within a transitional justice framewor...

“We women of Papua have been bruised, cornered, besieged from all directions. We are not safe at home, and even less so outside the home. The burden we bear to feed our children is too heavy. The history of the Papuan people is covered in blood, and women are no exception as victims o...

Property Rights in Kosovo explores cultural, political and social factors dating as far back as the Ottoman period that have contributed to the present state of property rights. It examines the legacy of the armed conflict and NATO intervention of 1999 in the massive population displa...

Thirteen years after the fall of Soeharto, victims in Indonesia continue to suffer from the negative effects of gross human rights violations and from ongoing discrimination. Although efforts by the president and the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) to create a reparation...

Indonesia has initiated transitional justice mechanisms to address human rights abuses that occurred during and after the New Order regime, but insufficient political will has rendered these efforts inadequate in achieving justice and reconciliation for victims.

Research Brief: Selected examples of Defence, Intelligence and Justice Investigative Reports into detention and interrogation practices.

Examples of pardons in international jurisprudence, including Inter-American Court and Commission, European Court of Human Rights, UN Treaty Bodies, and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Case studies on the use of pardons in Argentina, Chile, El Salvador, Peru, and South Africa.

Recent speculation indicates that U.S. President George W. Bush may grant pardons to administration officials and members of the military who might face prosecution for authorizing, ordering, endorsing, justifying or committing acts pursuant to the “war on terror.” While a pardon appl...

Since 1990, 65 former heads of state or government have been legitimately prosecuted for serious human rights or financial crimes. Many of these leaders were brought to trial in reasonably free and fair judicial processes, and some served time in prison as a result. This book explores...

This study examines various aspects of existing reparations following the 1991-1999 conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. It clarifies the different categories of reparation; identifies groups potentially entitled to compensation; assesses the extent and fairness of existing policies; a...

This study identifies the range of agencies in and outside the former Yugoslavia that collect documentation on war crimes and other human rights violations committed in the 1991-1999 wars. Several factors that point to the need for an overview of data-collecting agencies in the region...

This report focuses on 12 trials that took place before the Indonesian Ad Hoc Human Rights Court between March 2002 and August 2003. It analyzes the prosecution efforts and quality of the judgments, and assesses the political and institutional context in which these trials took place....

This paper summarizes the results of a mapping survey on transitional justice initiatives in Indonesia undertaken by ICTJ from August 2002 to May 2003. While the Indonesian government has created several state agencies and laws to address past cases of violence, it is still plagued by...

Since the end of open armed conflict in the former Yugoslavia, there has been little progress in transitional justice. This particularly applies to Serbia and Montenegro, which has lurched from one political crisis to another. This paper provides an overview of some of the major issue...

This paper provides an overview of the major issues and recent developments in transitional justice in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). It examines the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), local trials, the proposed Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the Sr...

This report disscusses the Greensboro Truth and Reonciliation Commission's Final Report on the 1979 killings of five anti-Ku Klux Klan demonstrators. It focuses on a meeting of representatives from truth recovery efforts around the world to assess the Greensboro experience. Topics cov...

This report outlines Indonesia's international law obligations to provide remedies to the "1965 victims" of General Soeharto's persecution and stigmatization of those affiliated with the Indonesia Communist Party. It traces the history of this persecution, provides an overview of curr...

This case study offers an overview of some of the major issues and recent developments in transitional justice in Croatia. While the main focus is on war crimes prosecutions before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and Croatian courts, it also examines trut...

This case study reviews and analyzes the deployment of international judges and prosecutors in Kosovo. It is part of a series providing information on hybrid courts' policy and practical issues. Although the Kosovo system of international judges and prosecutors has made significant st...

This report examines the effectiveness of war crimes prosecutions in Serbia. While the War Crimes Chamber (WCC) and the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor (OWCP) have had some success, significant concerns exist - such as opposition from ethnic nationalists. Despite shortcomings, the...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: A joint report released 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 Indonesia s...

A joint report released 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 Indonesia since the fall of So...

In August 2006 the Security Council created the UN Serious Crimes Investigation Team, as an extension of the previous investigation under the UN Integrated Mission Timor-Leste.

In the U.S., the democratic principle that openness in government can act as an important check against the possibility of government abuse has been steadily undermined. A critical information gap, only partially addressed through fragmented investigative efforts within and outside go...

Indonesia and Timor-Leste created the Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF) bilaterally in 2005. The commission has not yet delivered substantive transitional-justice benefits, and its public hearings have seriously compromised the goals of truth and resconciliation. This report i...

Despite considerable progress, rising tensions between and among various actors have illuminated the need to evaluate peace-building efforts from a transitional justice perspective. This report, based on research conducted by ICTJ and Acehnese civil society, aims to provide such an ev...

To date there has been limited judicial accountability for crimes committed by the Indonesian military forces in Aceh despite compelling evidence of their involvement in mass crimes. Commitments that were part of the 2005 Helsinki Memorandum of Understanding, to establish a truth and ...

The application of transitional justice mechanisms, such as war crimes trials and reparations, has significant flaws in Serbia. Lack of progress may be even greater in truth-seeking and vetting of public officials. Serbia must do much more in all areas of transitional justice, for its...

Amicus curiae on petition for a writ of certiorari, to the United States Court of Appeals for the second circuit.

On August 24, 2009, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that he was appointing Assistant U.S. Attorney John Durham to conduct a preliminary review into the possibility that federal laws were violated in the interrogation of specific detainees outside of the United States. The ...

Response to the first 100 days of the Obama administration and the disclosure of evidence detailing abusive treatment of detainees in the "war on terror." ICTJ recommends the appointment of a special prosecutor, the creation of an independent, nonpartisan commission of inquiry and con...

Details the range of measures that will be needed to address the consequences of abuses committed during the U.S. "war on terror," including independent investigations, public disclosure of the truth, prosecutions of those responsible for abuses and redress for victims of serious harm...

In July 2008 the Timorese-Indonesian Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) submitted its final report on atrocities committed in East Timor in 1999. Previously the CTF had been criticized by human rights groups, especially in relation to its power to recommend amnesties and its con...

Indonesia’s history is littered with episodes of mass violence, whether state-sponsored, communally driven or separatist in nature. But in recent times the Indonesian government has successfully negotiated several peace agreements and brought about an end to mass human rights violatio...

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of some of the major issues and recent developments in transitional justice in Serbia and Montenegro. In particular, it examines the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), local trials, the national Truth a...

The transitional justice review of Bosnia and Herzegovina says that in spite of important achievements in Bosnia and Herzegovina in terms of transitional justice, a number of substantive concerns remain. The report's recommendations include supporting the implementation of the Nationa...

Background on the massive human rights violations in the states that declared independence from the Former Yugoslavia from 1991 onwards, including Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, resulting in the deaths of over 140,000 people and four million displaced. The fact sheet cove...