Resource Library

“Through a New Lens: A Child-Sensitive Approach to Transitional Justice” analyzes experiences of four countries—Liberia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Colombia and Nepal—and identifies some key lessons on children’s participation in transitional justice measures. Authored by Céc...

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 paper analyzes the Maubuti case in Timor-Leste, the third serious crimes case to be brought to trial after the closure of the UN-supported Serious Crimes Unit in 2005. Maubuti was indicted for crimes against humanity including murder, attempted murder, and rape. The decision and ...

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 paper analyzes the serious crimes process the UN established in Timor-Leste to try serious violations of human rights perpetrated in 1999. The main difficulty facing this process is that the vast majority of suspects are in Indonesia, and the Timorese government has not been able...

This report examines community expectations and experiences of Timor-Leste’s unique transition from occupation to independence. It documents the results of focus group discussions on an array topcis including violence and conflict, truth recovery, justice, accountability, reconciliat...

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 explores the challenges to uncovering the truth about the atrocities committed under the Khmer Rouge and achieving justice for victims in Cambodia. It discusses which transitional justice mechanisms are applicable and what opportunities to achieve truth and accountability e...

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...

This paper considers the UN-sponsored regime established to respond to the crimes committed in East Timor during the Indonesian occupation between 1975 and 1999. The story of the quest for justice in East Timor perhaps can be summed up as one involving good intentions that were not ba...

The Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia's reparations mandate may seem narrow and restrictive. Yet there are several potential ways in which the Court can make the right to reparations meaningful for civil parties and for many other Cambodians. It has the ability to inf...

This briefing note provides a short overview of the conflict in Afghanistan's recent history, and the ongoing discussions and initiatives to address human rights violations and war crimes there. The state-building process, launched in 2001 after the ousting of the Taliban regime, has ...

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 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...

Bangladesh has taken several steps to seek redress for mass atrocities committed during the course of their “Liberation War” in 1971 that split West and East Pakistan into modern Pakistan and Bangladesh. In March 2009, the Awami League party announced the creation of an International ...

ICTJ provides constructive comments on the draft Internal Rules for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). While the draft Internal Rules provide greater procedural clarity for the ECCC proceedings, ICTJ lists several concerns in five areas that must be focused o...

Demobilization was first initiated in Cambodia in 1992, but there have been few attempts to link disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) processes to transitional justice measures. The government's overriding consideration has been the preservation of stability, narrowly i...

In Afghanistan, community theater has begun to be used as a method of transitional justice to give victims a voice and create positive impulses for peacebuilding. According to a new briefing paper released by ICTJ, through theater, victims are able to create a “safe space” to discuss ...

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.

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. ...

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 ...

The survey sought to ascertain the opinions and expectations of the victims and their families in Nepal on a range of transitional justice issues, such as human rights violations, truth-seeking, justice, accountability, reparations, and reconciliation.

This report arises out of a perceived opening or window of opportunity for transitional justice intervention around the specific gross human rights violation of enforced disappearances and abductions in Nepal. This issue connects powerfully to several dominant concerns within the tran...