Resource Library

In situations of large scale violence and repression, reparations are best conceptualized as rights-based political projects aimed at giving victims due recognition and at enhancing civic trust both among citizens and between citizens and state institutions. This paper explores, in th...

The Documentation Affinity Group (DAG) was established in 2005 by ICTJ and five partner organizations as a peer-to-peer network with a primary focus on human rights documentation. Documenting Truth collects the best practices derived from the work of the DAG organizations in Cambodia,...

This update covers the first, complainant phase of the Anfal trial, which lasted for twenty-three sessions from August 21 to November 27, 2006. Seventy-six complainants presented testimony regarding their experiences during the Anfal campaign. Information is taken directly from obser...

On January 12, 2008, the Iraqi parliament passed the “Law of the Supreme National Commission for Accountability and Justice.” The new law replaces the earlier framework governing Iraq’s De-Ba’athification policies. This document is intended to provide a short summary and preliminary a...

A three-judge panel of Peru’s Supreme Court will announce a verdict before the end of this year in the trial of Alberto Fujimori, Peru’s president from 1990-2000, on charges of murder and kidnapping. Prosecutors hold him responsible for the deaths of 25 people at the hands of a death ...

States have the obligation to prevent human rights violations, investigate them, identify and punish their intellectual authors and accessories after the fact, and may not invoke existing provisions of domestic law to avoid complying with their obligations under international law. ...

This report is based on data obtained from extensive interviews and focus group discussions conducted in July and August 2003 with representatives from a broad cross-section of the Iraqi population. The report’s conclusions and recommendations are divided into seven main areas: past h...

This paper evaluates the Dujail trial, the first of fourteen trials in Iraq against persons accused of crimes against humanity. Although the trial was potentially a new attempt at Iraqi justice, it fell short in many ways. Ultimately, it was rendered ineffective due to political inter...

This report provides an update on the developments in the Anfal trial before the Iraqi High Tribunal, including the trial of Saddam Hussein, his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, and five other co-defendants. This update focuses on the prosecution witness and documentary evidence phases of ...

This article examines and evaluates the Iraq Tribunal's Dujail Trial. The trial marks the beginning of a longer accountability process in the country and can potentially make a lasting contribution to transitional justice. This study assesses the fairness and effectiveness of the tria...

This update series summarizes developments in the Anfal trial of Saddam Hussein, his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, and five other co-defendants before the Iraqi High Tribunal. It covers the trial's defense and closing phases. Five of the six defendants were sentenced to either multiple ...

This paper summarizes the basic facts about the Dujail trial, the first trial before the Iraqi High Tribunal (IHT) against Saddam Hussein and seven others. It also summarizes facts about the IHT in general. It considers both what the Iraqis wanted out of the trial, what such prosecuti...

This book presents a series of essays on truth and criminal justice in Peru. It aims to contribute to analysis on how to strengthen and consolidate democracy there. The essays pay particular attention to the interests of individual victims' of human rights abuses, analyzing individual...

This paper discusses the significance of the trials of Saddam Hussein and his close associates held by the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal. It examines the challenges faced by the Tribunal - including concerns that the process was dominated by the U.S. government (hence undermining t...

This report provides parameters for the creation of a reparations program in Peru. The program must be included in the process of raising a new national awareness in Peru regarding past abuses and building a legal-political framework more responsive to human rights. To ensure sustaina...

This report describes the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal. It discusses the court's establishment and organization, jurisdiction, individual criminal responsibility, rules of procedure and evidence, and general principles of criminal law. It examines, in depth, the guidelines and fram...

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 report is the fourth in a series monitoring the implementation of a collective reparations program in Peru since 2007, by ICTJ and the Association for Human Rights in Peru (APRODEH). The publication examines the effects of this reparations program through interviews with the bene...

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

Indigenous peoples are among those most affected by contemporary conflict. The resource-rich territories they occupy are coveted by powerful, often violent groups. Their identity is perceived with mistrust, sometimes with hate. Indigenous communities live at a precarious intersection ...

The reparations policy for victims of Peru’s internal armed conflict, which lasted from 1980 to 2000, includes the internally displaced population among its beneficiaries under the Official Register of Victims. However, displaced persons are given lower priority than the other categor...

Based on significant field research and interviews with the Higher National de-Baathification Commission, this report focuses on Iraq’s purge of members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party, which is the most well-known example of large-scale and politically based dismissals in the Middle ...

This report evaluates the government of Peru’s partial results in providing compensation to victims of the internal armed conflict that devastated the country from 1980 to 2000. It provides a detailed analysis of the process of implementing the Comprehensive Reparations Plan, establis...

This report summarizes the findings of an ICTJ research project on the contribution of transitional justice to prevention. Drawing from five country case studies, it contends that addressing the past can help to prevent the recurrence not only of human rights violations but also viole...

This study examines the preventive effect of transitional justice in Peru in the aftermath of internal conflict and authoritarianism, focusing on the violence’s root causes and the differentiated impact on victims and affected communities. It contends that while transitional justice h...