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Join ICTJ as we co-host a delegation of RECOM’s leaders at two events in New York on November 14 and 15. They will share their experience campaigning for truth in the Western Balkans, present the draft mandate submitted to the presidents of the region, and discuss a successful public campaign that has gathered over 500,000 signatures in support of the commission.

NEW YORK/BRASÍLIA, Oct. 27, 2011—The Brazilian Senate’s passage of the National Truth Commission bill yesterday represents an important step for the struggle against impunity. The Government of Brazil now has the opportunity to acknowledge a painful past and to implement an effective tool to establish the facts about past abuse, to help victims heal and to allow Brazilian society to understand a painful period of their history, therefore preventing recurrent violations.

ICTJ applauds Brazil’s momentous step toward the creation of a truth commission and notes opportunities to ensure its success. Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies approved on Wednesday a bill creating the National Truth Commission to establish the facts and responsibilities about crimes committed under the country’s military regime.

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...

In this podcast, Caitlin Reiger, director of international policy relations at ICTJ, and coeditor of Prosecuting Heads of State, discusses the phenomenon of accountability at the most senior level of government in the context of ongoing trials of Mubarak and Ben Ali and the calls to bring to justice current and former heads of state accused of human rights abuses. [Download](/sites/default/files/Masic_ICTJ_Podcast_07312011.mp3) | Duration: 7:27mins | File size: 4.56MB

In this podcast, Alma Masic, director of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina, discusses her work on virtual memorials related to the crimes that occurred in Bosnia in the 1990s and the significance of truth and memory in the region. [Download](/sites/default/files/Masic_ICTJ_Podcast_07312011.mp3) | Duration: 7:40mins | File size: 4.38MB

The second Latin American Conference on Transitional Justice closed July 8. In the concluding remarks, ICTJ Truth and Memory Program Director Eduardo Gonzalez stated that while this conference has focused on sharing the comparative experiences throughout Latin America, this has not been an academic exercise but a call to action. Read more on the conference blog

Although Brazil's dictatorship ended years ago, focus on transitional justice there is peaking now, as debate stirs over how to best address its past. Recent developments - including the Brazilian government's proposal of a truth commission, the opening of national archives, and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights' decision limiting the 1979 amnesty law - are at the core of the discussion. Eduardo Gonzalez, director of ICTJ's Truth and Memory Program, discusses the role accountability for the past can play in Brazil today.

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...

The arrest of Ratko Mladic reignited debates on a wide spectrum of related issues, from its implications on the prospects for true reckoning with the past in the countries of the former Yugoslavia to the possible jolt it will give to Serbia’s hopes of joining the European Union. Beyond the immediate impact on the region, the strongest reverberations of Mladic’s transfer to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) will be felt in the discourse on international justice.