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This report presents findings from research on the needs and expectations of survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in The Gambia. Based on focus group discussions with survivors and other stakeholders, it analyses obstacles to, as well as opportunities to improve, survivors’ a...

Cover of the report on SGBV in The Gambia.

Nearly two years after the conflict erupted in Ethiopia’s Tigray Region in the north, the Ethiopian federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front signed an African Union-brokered cessation of hostilities agreement on November 2, followed by an implementation deal 10 days later. The breakthrough agreement offers a glimmer of hope after a brutal war. It charts a path toward peace and lays the foundations for addressing the legacy of the serious human rights violations and preventing their recurrence by providing for the implementation of a transitional justice policy centered on accountability, truth seeking, redress for victims, and reconciliation and healing.

Kampala, October 17, 2022— Sixteen years after the decades-long conflict between the Ugandan government and the rebel group the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) ended, victims continue to grapple with its persistent effects. Victims of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) and children born of war, in...

This report presents findings from a study conducted by ICTJ, the Women’s Advocacy Network, and the Global Survivors Fund to assess the reparative justice needs of victims of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) in Uganda. The study is based on interviews and focus group discussion...

graphically designed report cover

The recent move by the signatories to the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) to extend the peace agreement’s life for another 24 months has not come as a surprise. While there have been some positive, though sporadic steps toward fulfilling the R-ARCSS, its...

The role of victim participation in international criminal proceedings, whether in international, hybrid, or national courts, has long been a matter of public deliberation among criminal justice practitioners and human rights activists. In the aftermath of mass atrocities and repression, the...

Reparations for victims of sexual and gender-based violations (SGBV) raise a series of complicated questions and implementation challenges around how to acknowledge this category of victims and deliver reparations without exposing victims to stigma and rejection. Victims must weigh the risk of...

After seven years of waiting for the UN-backed Special Criminal Court (SCC) in the Central African Republic to begin operations, victims of the country’s civil war had hoped to finally see the first tangible step toward justice on April 25 when the first trial opened in the capital Bangui. The trial was initially set to begin on April 19, 2022, but was abruptly postponed when the defense attorneys failed to show up in an apparent boycott over their wages. When the defense lawyers returned to court on April 25, they immediately requested an adjournment, which was granted, and the trial was postponed again until May 16. It is very likely that this incessant postponement will further deflate already diminished confidence among victims in the SCC’s ability to deliver justice.

In the latest round of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, the Turkish president called on both delegations to act responsibly and agree to a ceasefire. He reminded them of their historical mission to achieve a "just peace." While we may not know how and when this conflict will end, we already know some of what Ukrainian society will be grappling with in the near future. Significant portions of country’s civilian infrastructure have been destroyed. More than 4 million Ukrainians are now refugees; another 10 million are internally displaced; and a rising but still undetermined number have been killed, are missing, or are wounded. The real question is what does a just peace mean for Ukrainians.

This study explores specialized units established in 23 countries to investigate and prosecute serious international crimes. Notwithstanding the challenges faced by these units, the study concludes that countries with a specialized institutional approach are considerably more successf...

several judges dressed in black gowns sit on a judicial bench.