93 results

Civil society organizations, as well as journalists’and editors’associations in Argentina, released this statement to request that the Argentinean Supreme Court ensure the observance of a resolution that allows the press to have access to trial hearings, especially in trials involving...

During the 1970s, political violence in Argentina resulted in massive violations of human rights including thousands of deaths, prolonged and arbitrary arrests, disappearances, unfair trials, pervasive torture, in addition to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. Since the restorat...

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 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.

As the number of victims of violence against demonstrators in Syria, Yemen, Bahrain and elsewhere in the region rises, a question emerges for the government of Bashar al-Assad of Syria, but also those of Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen, Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifah of Bahrain and the vacillating international community: Can impunity for such crimes be permitted in this day and age?

This journal article examines challenges to the legitimacy of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL). These challenges include selective impunity, the highly selective nature of the jurisdiction of the STL, and the fears that the STL itself will act as an instrument for foreign powers...

From 1976 to 1983 Argentina was ruled by a military dictatorship and an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 people "disappeared." This paper outlines transitional justice developments in Argentina - including the investigation and prosecution of human rights violations. The current movement to...

Taking a Stand: the Evolution of Human Rights, a book by former ICTJ president Juan E. Méndez, provides an eye-opening firsthand account of the fight against violations of human rights and impunity. Taking a Stand offers tangible policy recommendations to be undertaken by the international community to uncover the atrocities of the past and prevent further abuse.

David Tolbert, President of International Center of Transitional Justice: "I join many others in giving a final salute to Nino Cassese. He was man of extraordinary energy, singular determination and extraordinary intellectual talents but at the same time was an unassuming man, with a ready smile, an engaging anecdote and plenty of self-deprecation. Nino was a driving force behind the field of international criminal justice, not only through his leadership of both the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) but through his unstinting writing and advocating on this most crucial of subjects."

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the publication of Children of Cain, the first book by writer and journalist Tina Rosenberg. ICTJ spoke with Rosenberg about how political violence has evolved in Latin America over the past 20 years, and the continuing need for accountability for past atrocities.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the publication of Children of Cain, the first book by writer and journalist Tina Rosenberg. ICTJ spoke with Rosenberg about how political violence has evolved in Latin America over the past 20 years, and the continuing need for accountability for past atrocities.

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

ICTJ interview with Pablo Parenti, of the Attorney General’s Unit for coordination and monitoring cases involving violations of human rights during the Argentine dictatorship.

ICTJ spoke with Pablo Parenti about the trial that just concluded which investigated human rights violations and crimes against humanity that occurred at the Naval Mechanics School (ESMA), used as a detention and torture center during the Argentine dictatorship.

A two-day roundtable discussion on a draft law on the missing and forcibly disappeared persons was held February 24–25 in Beirut, Lebanon. Organized by the Committee of the Families of the Kidnapped and Disappeared in Lebanon, Support of Lebanese in Detention and Exile (SOLIDE), Act for the Disappeared, and ICTJ, the roundtable was part of the project “Lebanon’s unaddressed legacy: the missing and the families’ right to know,” funded by the European Union (EU) and the Embassy of Switzerland in Lebanon.

Lebanon has yet to seriously address the issue of thousands of people who went missing or were forcibly disappeared during the country’s civil war. ICTJ spoke with Lebanese activists to discuss a recent initiative taken by the families of the missing and civil society organizations to create a draft law on the missing.

Last month ICTJ, with Saint Joseph University’s Modern Arab World Research Center and UMAM Documentation and Research launched the website “ Badna Naaref” (We Want to Know). This oral history project conducted by students tells the stories of suffering and survival during the war in Lebanon, serving both to commemorate and educate.

Argentina’s trials for crimes committed during the dictatorship of military juntas are widely seen as a successful national effort to seek accountability for past abuses. And while victims’ demands for justice continue to remain high, the judiciary is facing challenges to ensure the cases are dealt with expeditiously and fairly. In a interview for ICTJ's Spanish podcast series "Lessons from Latin America," Mirna Goransky, Assistant General Prosecutor for the Attorney General’s Office shares her perspectives on human rights trials in Argentina.

As the world marks August 30, the International Day of the Disappeared, we are reminded that forced disappearances and transitional justice share a common history. Indeed, processes working in concert that came to form the field of transitional justice were born from the search for truth and justice about the disappeared.

The latest ICTJ Program Report explores transitional justice issues in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and charts our work in this important and dynamic region. Claudio Cordone, ICTJ’s program director covering the MENA region, discusses individual country scenarios, prospects for transitional justice processes and explains ICTJ’s involvement and impact. Cordone speaks about transitional justice principles being at the root of popular uprisings referred to as “Arab Spring” and the challenges facing societies in their efforts to reckon with legacies of dictatorships and recent violence. He describes ICTJ’s efforts to address the impact of violence on women and promote their participation in transitional justice initiatives. The interview provides a thorough overview of ongoing initiatives and future prospects in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territory.

ICTJ’s president David Tolbert will be one of the featured speakers at this year’s Al Jazeera Forum in Doha, Qatar, which aims to explore the complex transformation of the socio-political and media landscapes of the Middle East and North Africa.

Despite the overwhelming percentage of Lebanese who were affected by recent wars and political unrest, discussion of Lebanon’s past is largely absent from public spheres. A new documentary follows youth in Lebanon as they set out to find the truth.

Reparations seek to recognize and address the harms suffered by victims of systematic human rights violations. ICTJ’s Reparative Justice program provides knowledge and comparative experience on reparations to victims' groups, civil society and policymakers worldwide. In this edition of the ICTJ Program Report, we look at ICTJ's work on reparations in dynamic transitional contexts such as Nepal, Colombia, Peru, DRC, and Uganda.

In the brutality of armed conflict or tyranny of a repressive regime, many who go missing are never found again: whether “disappeared” by agents of the state or abducted by an armed faction, the whereabouts of thousands are still unknown to this day. On this International Day of the Disappeared, ICTJ recognizes that enforced disappearances constitute crimes against humanity, and they affect women in ways unique from the impact on men.

Enforced disappearances are among the cruelest of crimes. To the kidnapping, torture, and in many cases, murder of the victim, perpetrators intentionally create fear and uncertainty about the fate of the missing person. Although men are predominantly targeted, the impact on women is severe and lasting.