Resource Library

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...

This study examines how transitional justice measures in Morocco have helped prevent state violence repression and social and economic exclusion. These measures included the Equity and Reconciliation Commission, which diagnosed some historical wrongdoings and called for reform to prev...

Discussions about a future return of refugees and coexistence among groups currently at war in Syria must begin now, even in the face of ongoing violence and displacement. This report, based on interviews with refugees, makes it clear that the restoration of dignity will be important ...

This guide is designed to engage young people who are interested in or are working on transitional justice issues in their communities. Intended to serve primarily as a training tool, it provides basic information about transitional justice and related principles and offers tips and s...

In September 1985, ninemembers of Argentina’smilitary junta, whose successive regimes covered the period in Argentine history known as the “dirty war,” walked into a courtroom in downtown Buenos Aires.

This briefing paper focuses on the topic of prosecuting international and other serious crimes in Kenya, including crimes committed in the context of the postelection crisis of late 2007 and early 2008. In particular, it identifies and analyzes obstacles and opportunities for such pro...

This policy brief presents recommendations for transitional vetting based on insights from research on vetting practice. It is meant to complement existing guidelines on vetting put forth by the United Nations and other international organizations. It defines vetting and the risks it ...

Between April 15 and May 3, 2019, ICTJ held a number of consultations with Kenyan youth from several informal settlements in Nairobi and Mombasa to reflect on their understanding of security sector reforms and their connection to the ongoing national dialogue process, particularly as ...

What does the obligation to provide reparations mean when serious human rights violations are at issue? This report explores the evolving interpretation of the right to reparation in international law and jurisprudence and how domestic courts have provided judicial reparations at the ...

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

Efforts underway to address the 2008 Kenyan post-election crisis and the conditions that caused it have provided the country with a unique opportunity to address its long history of human rights violations.

This paper explores political exclusion in Kenya and its consequences on the social fabric of the nation. It draws from past governmental reports and analysis to formulate new recommendations that can inform current discourse. It first provides an overview of ethnicity in Kenya. It th...

ICTJ is more than two decades old. At the time it was established, many of those who contributed to transitions in Argentina, Chile, Guatemala, South Africa, and the former Yugoslavia saw the value of a specialized organization that could draw from diverse national experiences to prov...

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 briefing paper reviews the Kenyan government’s response to sexual and gender-based violence committed against women, men, and children during the 2007/2008 post-election crisis. It draws on interviews with over 40 survivors about their experience and analyzes the laws and transit...

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 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...

As the refugee crisis deepens, does action on transitional justice issues have to wait for peace? A new paper explores what sort of consultation and documentation work can be done now, while conflict is ongoing, to shape outcomes moving forward.

The Commission of Inquiry into Post-Election Violence (CIPEV) was the outcome of the Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation Accord of February 28, 2008, negotiated by Kofi Annan and the Panel of Eminent African Personalities, and its sister agreement of March 4, 2008, known as Age...

This study provides expert financial and operational analysis and information to help facilitate the establishment of an Independent National Commission for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared in Lebanon, as envisaged in a draft consolidated bill now before the Lebanese Parliament. ...

The term reconciliation has long been associated with the field of transitional justice and is often presumed to be one of its goals. At the same time, reconciliation has been both controversial and vague as a concept, giving rise to different understandings and approaches. This paper...

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 ...

While not seen as sufficient in and of themselves as a means of reparation, the concept of “collective reparations” has been one of the ways in which reparation advocates have respond to practical challenges and to the overall complexity of responding to massive violations of human...

This briefing paper focuses on the role of victims of human rights violations in criminal proceedings. This paper will provide examples of recent developments in the advancement of victim participation in criminal proceedings in international criminal law and domestic jurisdictions.  ...

This briefing paper examines the Tunisian Truth and Dignity Commission’s approach to investigating Ben Ali dictatorship-era corruption crimes and identifying responsible institutions and individuals, and whether it laid the foundation for accountability and reparation. While it fell s...

Lebanon’s civil war continues to impact the Lebanese people, both those who lived through the war and those born after it. While the widespread harms it caused are still visible today, the official denial of both the war and its lasting consequences has left a hole in Lebanon’s histor...

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 research report offers guidance on the application of a restorative justice framework in contexts of massive human rights violations, including its advantages and challenges. Based on the experiences of Colombia, Sierra Leone, Tunisia, and the Philippines, the study examines how ...

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...

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 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 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...

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 refugee...

Pursuing justice in a transitional context may take the form of multiple measures and goes beyond the pursuit of criminal prosecutions. Tunisia’s Basic Law on Transitional Law, adopted in December 2013, is a case in point. Despite its flaws, the the law introduced a fairly comprehensi...

Transitions focuses on unrest in Middle East and North Africa.. Hanny Megally, ICTJ Vice President for Programs, talks about demonstrations and upheaval in Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and elsewhere.

On March 2 and 3, 2020, transitional justice and anti-corruption policymakers, experts, and activists from the Gambia, Kenya, South Africa, Armenia, and Tunisia met in Tunis for a two-day conference to share solutions to a common problem: How can countries emerging from dictatorship, ...

The National Accord, negotiated in February 2008 by the Panel of Eminent African Personalities led by Kofi Annan, ended the months of violence that followed Kenya’s 2007 presidential election. The transitional justice mechanisms established by the accord have created an opportunity to...

As the first truth commission in the region, Morocco’s Equity and Reconciliation Commission sought to address the legacy of more than 40 years of repression and human rights violations known as the “Years of Lead.” The commission was part of a gradual process of dealing with the past,...

A range of transitional justice measures should be considered in addressing the Kenyan crisis, including holding key perpetrators to account in a court of law, providing reparations for victims of the recent violence, and vetting security forces in order to remove those involved in ab...

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...

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 presents findings from a study based on interviews with 121 Syrian refugees living in Jordan. It aims to provide a better understanding of the impact the conflict in Syria has had on refugees, including the harms and losses they have suffered; their expectations, concerns,...

This briefing paper presents findings from a study based on interviews with 121 Syrian refugees living in Jordan. It aims to provide a better understanding of the impact the conflict in Syria has had on refugees, including the harms and losses they have suffered; their expectations, c...

In many countries of the African Great Lakes region, state-led approaches to transitional justice have been created by wide-ranging agreements or policies that have been later forgotten or only partially implemented. Even when implemented, they are often subject to years of delay and/...

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...

Sexual violence against men and boys in times of conflict or repression is alarmingly common— and takes a markedly consistent form across contexts in terms of how it affects victims and societies as a human rights violation that is taboo to talk about. It has been committed in all cul...

This report focuses on “indirect victims” of human rights violations in Tunisia, namely, the wives, sisters, and children of political prisoners in Tunisia, who suffered discrimination, social exclusion, police violence, and harassment during the dictatorship. Presenting documentation...

Building on its work in Tunisia since 2012, ICTJ met with representatives of youth-led civil society organizations and social movements and state institutions involved in pursuing accountability for Ben Ali-era corruption. This paper focuses on the strategies and insights that members...

In February 2019, ICTJ hosted an international symposium on gender and transitional justice in Tunisia that brought together representatives from eight countries where ICTJ has been actively engaged in implementing a gender-focused approach to its programming. This briefing paper pres...