73 results

2021 Year in Review

In 2021, there were significant developments, some hopeful and some devastating, in the struggle for truth, accountability, and redress in countries around the world. ICTJ experts covered these events in commentaries and feature stories published on our website and in our newsletters. While 2022 is already underway and we at ICTJ are hard at work, we would like to pause a moment to take stock and reflect on the year that was.

01/25/22
In Focus

Advancing Global Accountability: The Role of Universal Jurisdiction in Prosecuting International Crimes

Invoking the principle of universal jurisdiction opens the door to the possibility of some accountability in circumstances where justice is not possible in countries where the crimes took place. This study considers the challenges facing the exercise of universal jurisdiction and asse...

by

Howard Varney and Katarzyna Zduńczyk

Report

Alberto Fujimori on Trial

A three-judge panel of Peru’s Supreme Court will announce a verdict before the end of this year in the trial of Alberto Fujimori, Peru’s president from 1990-2000, on charges of murder and kidnapping. Prosecutors hold him responsible for the deaths of 25 people at the hands of a death ...

by

ICTJ

Fact Sheet

Alive in the Demand for Change: Transitional Justice and Prevention in Peru

This study examines the preventive effect of transitional justice in Peru in the aftermath of internal conflict and authoritarianism, focusing on the violence’s root causes and the differentiated impact on victims and affected communities. It contends that while transitional justice h...

by

Julie Guillerot

Report

Amplifying Victims' Voices in Syria

This is the second of our Stories of Change series; in it, Tarek al-Massri, an 18-year-old from Homs now living in Germany, knows all too well the horrors of the Syrian conflict and its devastating impact on schools.

06/19/19
In Focus

Applying Universal Jurisdiction to Prosecute International Crimes and the Implications for Syrian Victims

For many victims of human rights violations and international crimes around the world, the prospects of holding perpetrators to account, especially high-level individuals, have long seemed farfetched, given current political and legal hurdles and the limitations of international criminal justice mechanisms. For this reason, the multiple ongoing investigations into international crimes committed in Syria and court cases against suspected perpetrators based on the principle of universal jurisdiction across Europe have offered a ray of hope in an otherwise bleak justice landscape.

12/23/20
In Focus

Barcelona Course Explores Linkages Between Prevention and Transitional Justice

From October 1 to October 5, 2018, ICTJ hosted its eleventh intensive course on transitional justice in collaboration with the International Peace Center for in Barcelona. Participants included leaders in their respective fields, including human rights law, community justice and legal services, peacebuilding, education, and humanitarian affairs.

10/24/18
In Focus

Design Parameters for a Reparations Program in Peru

This report provides parameters for the creation of a reparations program in Peru. The program must be included in the process of raising a new national awareness in Peru regarding past abuses and building a legal-political framework more responsive to human rights. To ensure sustaina...

by

ICTJ, Human Rights Association (Asociación pro Derechos Humanos–APRODEH)

Report

“We Didn’t Think It Would Hit Us,” New Report on Attacks on Schools in Syria Calls Attention to Atrocities

A new report on attacks on schools in Syria harnesses documentation to call attention to atrocities and advance storytelling, truth seeking, acknowledgment. It is the product of Save Syrian Schools, a collaborative project led by 10 Syrian civil society organizations and the ICTJ that demands an end to the killing of Syrian children and justice for the bombing of schools.

09/07/18

by

Christopher Boland

In Focus

“We Didn’t Think It Would Hit Us:” Understanding the Impact of Attacks on Schools in Syria

This report examines attacks on schools in Syria from multiple angles: from the legal implications of such attacks to the everyday impact on students, teachers, families, and society at large. It is the product of Save Syrian Schools, a collaborative project led by...

by

Save Syrian Schools

Report

Ensuring the Role of Victims and Families in Search Processes for the Missing and Disappeared in Syria

This is an audio recording of a live event.

by

Finding Hope Across Continents of Pain

On September 15, ICTJ organized a side event on the missing and disappeared in Syria, sponsored by the governments of Luxembourg and Finland, during the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly. The event was a timely one, as it addressed a recent proposal for the creation of a new...

10/21/22

by Nousha Kabawat and Elena Naughton

In Focus

Gearing Up the Fight Against Impunity: Dedicated Investigative and Prosecutorial Capacities

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.
Report

Gone Without a Trace: Syria’s Detained, Abducted, and Forcibly Disappeared

In most cases, to be imprisoned in Syria is to disappear. Tens of thousands of people, if not more, have been unlawfully taken prisoner or held incommunicado in the context of the Syrian conflict. This policy paper examines the dark reality of detentions in Syria, its impact...

by

Hanny Megally and Elena Naughton

Report

A Guide Through the Untold Darkness: The Realities of Syria’s Disappeared, Arbitrarily Detained, and Their Families

Enforced disappearance and arbitrary detention devastate victims and all those who love them. This guide takes an unsparing look at the harsh realities that Syrian victims of these crimes face and offers guidance on what they and others can do to help. It is the product of the Bridges...

A drawing of a woman holding a young child. In the background are numerous eyes of different colors watching them.
Report

Helping Victims Overcome Human Rights Violations Through Education

Understanding education as a form of both reconstruction and reparations is essential for societies in their efforts to address victims’ rights and help victims and their families overcome the consequences of a painful past.

07/27/16
In Focus

Holding a Mirror to Society: Acknowledgment and the Struggle for Indigenous Peoples Rights

Indigenous peoples are still some of the most marginalized and vulnerable communities around the world. In a conflict, they are often some of the most affected as their resource-rich territories are coveted by powerful and violent groups, their identity and loyalty perceived with mistrust, and their...

08/08/18
In Focus

ICTJ Organizes U.S. Visit for Syrian Advocates for the Detained and Disappeared

As part of its ongoing efforts to support Syrian civil society organizations seeking to end enforced disappearances in Syria, ICTJ organized a visit to the United States for members of two prominent family associations: Families for Freedom and the Caesar Families Association. The trip, which was planned in coordination with longtime partner Dawlaty, comes at a time when Syrian civil society and victims’ groups have been intensifying their calls for an international mechanism to uncover the fate of those who have gone missing in Syria since the start of the uprising in March 2011.

07/13/22
In Focus

ICTJ Program Report: Reparative Justice

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.

05/13/13
In Focus

ICTJ to Release New Report on Transitional Justice and Foreign Fighters

New York, December 10, 2021—In contexts such as Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya, Iraq, Somalia, and Syria, hundreds, sometimes thousands, of individuals have crossed national borders to engage in violent conflicts in which serious human rights violations and mass atrocities have been committed...

12/10/21
Image of Children looking through holes in a tent at al-Hol displacement camp in Hasaka governorate, Syria, on April 2, 2019.
Press Release

Indigenous Peoples and Claims for Reparation: Tentative Steps in Peru and Guatemala

In situations of large scale violence and repression, reparations are best conceptualized as rights-based political projects aimed at giving victims due recognition and at enhancing civic trust both among citizens and between citizens and state institutions. This paper explores, in th...

by

Ruth Rubio-Marín, Claudia Paz y Paz Bailey and Julie Guillerot

Briefing Paper

No Longer Welcome: Syrian Refugees in Denmark Face an Impossible Choice

The millions of Syrians displaced by the grinding decade-long war have sought out safety far and wide, in safe havens within the country, in neighboring countries in the region, and further afield. Those who managed to reach Europe often did so against the odds and often after experiencing displacement more than once. Now, one of these countries, Denmark , is taking away from Syrians living in its borders the protection they so desperately sought and still need and, with it, the tiny bit of hope that they have worked so hard to preserve.

06/01/21

by

Nousha Kabawat

Opinion

Meet the Syrian Artists Who Cartoon for Change

Diala Brisly and Hani Abbas, two cartoonists and contemporaries, know firsthand the power of images to document conflict, and of cartoons —consumed by children and adults alike —to promote action.

10/12/18
In Focus

Molding Justice: Women's Voices from the Tunis Gender Conference

ICTJ’s Gender Symposium, held on February 2 to 4, 2019, in Tunis, Tunisia, brought together fearless women leaders working in 8 countries to advance the needs of victims and to bring gender issues to the center of transitional justice processes. What was achieved? What experiences cut across these diverse contexts? Kelli Muddell and Sibley Hawkins reflect on these questions and more in this short podcast.

05/15/19
In Focus

A New Animated Film Explores the Trauma and Resilience of Families of the Disappeared in Syria

ICTJ and the Bridges of Truth project are launching Tomorrow We Continue, a new short animated documentary that follows a young mother of two whose husband was detained and disappeared by security forces in Syria some years ago. The film takes the viewer on her journey as a refugee searching for safety in Berlin and depicts the daily struggles she encounters once settled as she tries to earn a living and care for her children while continuing to search for her husband. Since the uprising in Syria began in 2011, more than 100,000 people have been disappeared or arbitrarily detained. The families they leave behind may move to safer places as refugees, but the search for their loved ones persists wherever they go. This film is one of their stories.

12/19/22
Tomorrow We Continue - Film Poster
Press Release

New Edition of Hatun Willakuy Shares Findings of Peru’s Truth Commission, Aimed at Wider Audiences

Three human rights groups have joined together to publish a new English edition of Hatun Willakuy, a book presenting the abridged findings of Peru’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, on its tenth anniversary. The book, which is available online, will allow a larger number of readers to benefit from the findings of Peru’s truth-seeking process.

05/23/14
Press Release

New Guide Explores Realities Facing Syria’s Disappeared, Arbitrarily Detained, and Their Families

New York, March 1, 2022—“There can be no peace in Syria until the rights of the wrongfully detained, disappeared, and their families are fully restored,” warns a new publication released today by the Bridges of Truth, a collaborative of eight Syrian civil society organizations and ICTJ. A Guide to...

03/01/22
Press Release

New Guide for Syrian Youth Inspires Creative Thinking About Transitional Justice

New York, December 4, 2019—"Get ready to speak up and be heard because your voice matters!”—that is the message a new guidebook released today on transitional justice sends to Syrian youth. Produced by ICTJ and Dawlaty, a Syrian human rights organization based in Beirut, the guidebook introduces the concepts of transitional justice to young audiences in an engaging and interactive way while capturing the challenges of applying them in difficult contexts.

12/03/19
Press Release

New Report: "Gone Without A Trace" Examines the Dark Reality of Detentions in Syria

New York, May 29, 2020 — Time is of the essence for breaking the deadlock over the release of detainees, abductees, and the forcibly disappeared in Syria, says a policy paper released today by ICTJ and the New York University’s Center on International Cooperation (CIC). Coordinated action by the Syrian regime and other parties to the conflict, as well as the international community, must begin now, particularly as the spread of the coronavirus accelerates in Syria. The consequences of delay and a failure to act — for the detainees and their families — are likely to be calamitous.

05/29/20
Press Release

Our Future, Our Justice: Young People Taking Action

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...

Report

An Overlooked Aspect of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

Recent recognition of the work of Nobel Laureate Nadia Murad has drawn global attention to the issue of sexual violence and gender-based violence in conflict. But, as ICTJ Expert Kelli Muddell argues, the nuances of gender norms and how they impact women, men, and vulnerable populations are still often missing from conversations about victims.

10/30/18

by

Kelli Muddell

In Focus

As Pandemic Looms, Action Is Needed to Protect Syria’s Vulnerable Prison Population

For the past few months, ICTJ, along with our partners at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University, has been working on a comprehensive new policy paper on the situation of the many thousands of Syrians detained somewhere in the country’s vast network of prisons. The depravity that goes on inside these detention sites is already so appalling that it would have been hard to imagine when we started the project that the situation for the prisoners could get any worse. And then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, upending all of our preconceptions, and our lives, in ways none of us ever expected.

04/22/20
In Focus

Perú: ¿Cuánto se ha reparado en nuestras comunidades?

This report is the fourth in a series monitoring the implementation of a collective reparations program in Peru since 2007, by ICTJ and the Association for Human Rights in Peru (APRODEH). The publication examines the effects of this reparations program through interviews with the bene...

by

ICTJ y APRODEH

Report

Peru: ICTJ Supports Victims Challenge of Unfair Compensation Program

ICTJ files legal brief supporting Peruvian families in their case for a just compensation program for victims of Peru's 1980-2000 internal armed conflict.

05/16/16
Press Release

A Practitioners' Perspective on Forms of Justice in Peru and Colombia

To mark the launch of our new publication, "Forms of Justice: A Guide to Designing Reparations Application Forms and Registration Processes for Victims of Human Rights Violations", we sat down with Jairo Rivas about his work in designing reparations forms in Peru and Colombia.

12/07/17
In Focus

Prosecuting Heads of State

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...

by

Ed. Ellen L. Lutz, Caitlin Reiger

Book

Public Hearings: Platforms of Truth, Dignity, and Catharsis

On the International Day for the Right to Truth we spotlight one of the most powerful ways truth commissions can reassert victims' dignity: public hearings. These open events can have a potentially cathartic power for victims and their families, but also the public at large by generating solidarity and empathy for the suffering of others in societies deeply polarized and traumatized by atrocities and denial.

03/24/17
In Focus

Reparations and Displacement in Peru

The reparations policy for victims of Peru’s internal armed conflict, which lasted from 1980 to 2000, includes the internally displaced population among its beneficiaries under the Official Register of Victims. However, displaced persons are given lower priority than the other categor...

by

Rafael Barrantes Segura

Report

Reparations in Peru: From Recommendations to Implementation

This report evaluates the government of Peru’s partial results in providing compensation to victims of the internal armed conflict that devastated the country from 1980 to 2000. It provides a detailed analysis of the process of implementing the Comprehensive Reparations Plan, establis...

by

Cristián Correa

Report

Research Brief: Country Case Studies on the Use of Pardons

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

by

ICTJ

Briefing Paper

Research Brief: Pardons in International Jurisprudence

States have the obligation to prevent human rights violations, investigate them, identify and punish their intellectual authors and accessories after the fact, and may not invoke existing provisions of domestic law to avoid complying with their obligations under international law. ...

by

ICTJ

Briefing Paper

Sad Stories, But Proud Memories in Peru

ICTJ has released One morning they came to our community: Stories of political violence in communities of Peru, a compilation of victims’ stories about Peru’s internal armed conflict from 1980 to 2000. The stories constitute an important form of recognizing the truth, as well as a demand for justice and reparations.

06/16/11
In Focus

Shedding Light on the Mental Health Needs of Families of the Missing in Syria

On February 8, ICTJ held an event in The Hague on the missing and disappeared in Syria, in partnership with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The event brought together activists, journalists, artists, and policymakers to reflect on the critical humanitarian needs of victims and their families and the role of the newly established international body on the missing in Syria, which is mandated in part to address these needs.

03/11/24
Two women seated on chairs engage in a conversation.
In Focus

Special Report on COVID-19: Keeping Justice in Sight

Sparing almost no corner of the world from its wrath, the COVID-19 pandemic has now spread to every country. In an effort to slow the contagion, governments in most countries have been taking drastic measures requiring all residents other than essential workers to confine themselves in their homes, and shutting down vast sectors of their economies. The impact has been crushing. COVID-19 has profoundly affected every country where ICTJ currently works: Armenia, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gambia, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, and Uganda. We recently caught up with ICTJ’s heads of country programs to learn more about the impact the pandemic is having on transitional justice and society more broadly.

05/19/20
In Focus

Statement by Bridges of Truth Member Organizations The Path to Accountability Through European Courts

The start of 2022 was marked by two important victories in the fight for justice and redress for victims of human rights violations in Syria. The first was the sentencing of Anwar Raslan, a former colonel in the Syrian intelligence service, to life in prison by the Higher Regional Court in Koblenz...

01/26/22
Press Release

Statement on the UN Resolution Establishing an Independent Institution on Missing Persons in Syria

On June 29, 2023, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution creating a new independent institution on the missing in the Syria Arab Republic. Eighty-three member states voted in favor, 11 voted against, and 62 abstained. ICTJ welcomes the resolution, which represents a momentary reprieve in Syria’s otherwise bleak justice landscape. This vote represents a critical step forward in supporting all those who seek answers about the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones and who suffer daily from the indignities and grave hardships that ensue when a loved one goes missing.

07/21/23
People are assembled in the UN General Assembly chamber in New York and large screen shows a voting result, with 83 in favor, 11 against, and 62 abstentions.
In Focus

A Step Toward Justice in Syria

On Thursday, January 13, 2022, the Higher Regional Court in Koblenz, Germany, convicted Anwar Raslan, a senior official in the Syrian government, for crimes against humanity. The landmark trial, the first ever to prosecute a member of Bashar al-Assad’s regime for such crimes, highlights a crucial component without which Raslan would never have been convicted: the role of victims in achieving justice.

02/01/22

by

Nousha Kabawat

Opinion

Strengthening Indigenous Rights through Truth Commissions | July 19–21 New York

ICTJ's expert conference on the relationship between truth-seeking and indigenous rights is in session. View the live stream here.

07/19/11
In Focus

Strengthening Indigenous Rights through Truth Commissions: A Practitioner's Resource

Indigenous peoples are among those most affected by contemporary conflict. The resource-rich territories they occupy are coveted by powerful, often violent groups. Their identity is perceived with mistrust, sometimes with hate. Indigenous communities live at a precarious intersection ...

by

ICTJ; Paige Arthur; Eduardo González; Yukyan Lam; Joanna Rice; César Rodríguez-Garavito; Deborah J. Yashar

Report

Strengthening Indigenous Rights through Truth Commissions

ICTJ hosted a conference on “Strengthening Indigenous Rights through Truth Commissions” July 19-21, 2011. Regional and international experts convened to discuss how truth commissions can incorporate and address indigenous peoples’ rights. Videos of each session and summaries of the conference proceedings are available.

07/25/11
In Focus