Resource Library

This briefing paper details and analyzes the progress made so far in Tunisia to implement its historic Transitional Justice Law, with a particular focus on the Truth and Dignity Commission, created one year ago.

This report examines the impact on women of enforced disappearances committed during Lebanon’s civil war, focusing in particular on the effects on wives of the missing or disappeared—and their children. The research is based on interviews conducted by ICTJ with 23 wives of missing or ...

This briefing paper assesses the situation in Ukraine with respect to democratic reforms being undertaken in the country following the mass uprising that ousted former President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014. It examines issues of corruption and impunity, as well as the historica...

This document presents wide-ranging recommendations for political and social reforms in Lebanon developed by a consortium of Lebanese civil society actors, as part of an ICTJ project. Directed at Lebanese authorities, the recommendations address the well-documented and widespread viol...

This report presents qualitative data collected by ICTJ on how individuals in Greater Beirut talk about the Lebanon wars and the need for truth, justice, and an end to violence in their country. For the study, 15 focus group discussions were held in 5 neighborhoods in Greater Beirut, ...

This report examines the situation of impunity in Lebanon that has persisted since the 1975-1990 war through the lenses of core elements of transitional justice. It analyzes Lebanon’s past experience of ineffective transitional justice measures -- including limited domestic trials, na...

This briefing paper focuses on establishing a credible approach to accountability and human rights in a post-conflict Syria. Looking ahead to an eventual resolution to the war, it recognizes that Syrian authorities and civil society, as well as the international community, will have t...

This report compiles information on hundreds of incidents of serious human rights violations that occurred in Lebanon from 1975 to 2008, including mass killings, enforced disappearances, assassinations, forced displacement, and the shelling of civilian areas. It reveals patterns of vi...

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 publication provides an overview of the essential best practices guiding the main aspects of a truth commission, answering basic questions relating to its goals, powers, operations, framework, protections for commissioners and witnesses, and reporting. Its intention is to provide...

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 ...

The protracted displacement of Palestinian refugees presents a complex set of challenges for the international refugee, humanitarian, and transitional justice fields. For the most part, these global movements have treated the Palestinian situation as a case apart: Palestinian refugees...

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 ...

Although the conflict in Turkey remains ongoing and a political solution to the “Kurdish question” has not been reached, in recent years, the Turkish government has developed a series of laws and policies regarding the situation of displaced Kurds. The most significant of these polici...

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 i...

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 f...

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...

In 2006, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) launched an unprecedented effort to document the violations of international humanitarian law in Afghanistan between 1978 and 2001. Though it has not yet been made public, the 1000-page AIHRC Conflict Mapping Report ...

In collaboration with the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement, ICTJ’s Research Unit examined how transitional justice can be used to address the range of injustices associated with displacement and thereby serve as part of a comprehensive approach to the resolution of displ...

Established in 2004, Morocco’s Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER: l’Instance équité et réconciliation) was one of the first attempts made in the Arab world to address human rights violations perpetrated in the post-independence period. It also aimed to include female victims o...

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 ...

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...

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

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...

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 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...

This memorandum is a legal analysis of the applicability of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide to events which occurred in Turkey-Armenia during the early twentieth century. It was drafted by independent legal counsel based on a request made to...

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 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...

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 traces the human rights abuses under King Hassan II—including arbitrary arrest, torture, and disappearance—that led to the development of the Moroccan Equity and Reconciliation Commission (Instance Équité et Réconciliation (IER)). It provides both a historical reference an...

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 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 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 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 study examines the development of restitution and reparations in international law and practice over the last century. It aims to provide recommendations on how restitution can best contribute to transitional justice by reviewing four case-studies: the Czech Republic, South Afric...

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 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 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 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...

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...

ICTJ’s Middle East and North Africa Program, in partnership with the Arab Institute for Human Rights, the Tunisian League for Human Rights, and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, convened an international conference entitled “Addressing the Past, Building the Future...

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...

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 ...

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...

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...