Resource Library

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 Special Tribunal for Lebanon is an internationalized court that will sit in the Netherlands and seek accountability for a specific set of crimes in Lebanon. It remains to be seen whether or how the Tribunal might contribute toward accountability in Lebanon, but it is clear from ex...

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...

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...

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,...

The military rulers of Burma (also known as Myanmar) convened a National Convention to draft a new constitution. After many delays, the convention completed the draft on September 3, 2007. An analysis of the constitution’s provisions suggests that instead of being a true catalyst for ...

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...

A wide array of international donors are working with Timor-Leste to help support reform in the security sector. While many of these programmes have had a positive impact, donor-driven security reform agendas have been under-coordinated. Fortunately, this is beginning to change, as ...

In April 2008 historic elections to Nepal’s Constituent Assembly led to a political watershed: former Maoist guerrillas surprised everyone by coming out ahead, suggesting that a new era had come to Nepal. In its first sitting, the Constituent Assembly declared Nepal a republic and bro...

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...