157 results

'Zyara to Yemen' Docuseries

The Arabic word “Zyara” means “visit” in English. The Zyara documentary series takes an innovative, deeply personal approach to storytelling with a view to nurturing collective social and emotional healing. Through candid encounters, it paints poetic portraits of four Yemenis refugees living in Oman, including a human rights lawyer and activist, a restaurant worker, a martial arts champion, and a businessman. By telling their stories and celebrating the resilient spirit of the Yemeni people, the Zyara project seeks to raise awareness and preserve truth and memory.

04/29/24
poster for Zyara to Yemen docuseries
In Focus

'Zyara to Yemen' Docuseries

The Arabic word “Zyara” means “visit” in English. The Zyara documentary series takes an innovative, deeply personal approach to storytelling with a view to nurturing collective social and emotional healing. Through candid encounters, it paints poetic portraits of four Yemenis refugees l...

05/16/24
Videos

ICTJ Releases New Report on Restorative Justice

In the aftermath of armed conflict or repression, communities often struggle to rebuild social relations that have been damaged or destroyed by violence and abuse. Restorative justice can potentially play a valuable role in such societies, bringing together the people who have been harmed by crimes and the individuals responsible for those harms, often in the form of a dialogue, to address the offense and its consequences. A new ICTJ research report offers insight and guidance on the use of a restorative justice framework in responding to massive and grave human rights violations, drawing primarily from experiences in Colombia, Sierra Leone, Tunisia, and the Philippines’ Bangsamoro region.

04/23/24
A man and audience member holds his phone to record proceedings of panel on the stage in front of him.
Press Releases

Transforming Social Relations: Restorative Responses to Massive Human Rights Violations

This research report offers guidance on the application of a restorative justice framework in contexts of massive human rights violations, including its advantages and challenges. Based on the experiences of Colombia, Sierra Leone, Tunisia, and the Philippines, the study examines how ...

A man and audience member holds his phone to record proceedings of panel on the stage in front of him.
Report

Zyara to Yemen

The Arabic word “Zyara” means “visit” in English. The Zyara documentary series takes an innovative, deeply personal approach to storytelling with a view to nurturing collective social and emotional healing.

05/16/24
Videos

Kenya Must Do More to End Femicide and Violence Against Women

Thousands took to the streets across Kenya on January 27 following the gruesome slaying of more than a dozen women to denounce violence against women and demand action to end it. Protesters later gathered in Nairobi on February 14 for a Valentine’s Day vigil for the more than 30 women murdered in the country so far this year and to pressure the government to declare femicide and violence against women a national emergency and to establish a commission to address these crimes and thereby break the cycle of impunity. These efforts are laudable, if not inspiring. However, physical and sexual violence against women and femicide—at times perpetrated by law enforcement officers who are meant to protect them, as enshrined in Kenya’s 2010 Constitution—has persisted in Kenya for decades.

03/01/24

by

Agatha Ndonga

A woman leads a march down a street. Behind her are a banner and other marchers.
World Report

2023 Year in Review

Throughout 2023, ICTJ’s experts have offered their unique perspective on breaking news around the globe as part of the World Report. Their insightful commentaries have brought into focus the impact these events have on victims of human right violations as well as larger struggles for peace and justice. In this edition, we look back on the past year through the Expert’s Choice column.

01/05/24
A collage of feature images from the 2023 Expert's Choice commentaries.
World Report

Accountability in Yemen Requires a Comprehensive Transitional Justice Process

In 2016, the Yemeni National Commission to Investigate Alleged Violations to Human Rights began documenting violations committed since the 2011 uprising and during the subsequent brutal civil war, which continues today. To date, the commission has documented more than 23,000 human rights abuses and referred over 2,000 cases to Yemen’s Public Prosecutor for prosecution. However, no verdict has been issued in any of these cases. To help the commissioners and members of Yemen’s judiciary advance accountability, ICTJ organized a workshop for them on transitional justice mechanisms. However, to deliver a justice that meets all the reparative needs of victims, these efforts must be an integral part of a broader, multifaceted transitional justice process.

03/20/23

by

Nour El Bejjani Noureddine

A group of people sit together for a photo in a conference room.
In Focus

New Hope for Political and Humanitarian Agreements in Venezuela

The end of 2022 in Venezuela was marked by signs of willingness from all parties to take concrete steps toward democracy. The government and the opposition resumed negotiations and agreed to allow the United Nations to manage a fund for billions of dollars of frozen assets, which would be gradually released to address the country’s humanitarian crisis. The United States authorized the Chevron Corporation to resume limited operations for importing Venezuelan oil. Finally, the 2015 National Assembly voted to end the opposition-led interim government. While these steps are initial ones to create the conditions for trust among the parties, they offer opportunities to improve the dire circumstances in which many Venezuelans currently live.

02/01/23

by Cristián Correa

A man in a small dark room without electricity lights a match to start a hotplate where a pot sits.
World Report

ICTJ Hosts Training for Field Monitors with Yemen’s National Commission Investigating Human Rights Violations

Even as the parties to the war in Yemen fail to extend the UN-brokered ceasefire, field monitors of the National Commission to Investigate Alleged Violations to Human Rights (NCIAVHR) continue to document and investigate human rights violations despite enormous challenges and serious risks to their...

11/15/22
Two women sits at conference table in front of a microphone.
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

Voices of Tomorrow

The story of Mark and Sharon, two Kenyan youths who believed in the importance of unveiling the truth about past crimes in Kenya and participated in the TJRC process.

05/16/24
Videos

Bulla Karatasi: The Forgotten Massacre

Bulla Karatasi: The Forgotten Massacre, produced by ICTJ and Kenyan media house Africa Uncensored, is the first ever in-depth documentary film to explore the events surrounding the massacre that took place in Kenya's northern region of Garissa in November 1980 and its ongoing impact on ...

05/16/24
Reports

Seeds of Justice

This multimedia project brings together voices of five Sierra Leoneans of different backgrounds reflecting on the legacy of the court as it nears the completion of its mandate.

05/16/24
Videos

A Transitional Justice Approach to Foreign Fighters

This study explores a transitional justice approach to the dilemma of foreign fighters in violent conflict. Such an approach can help center human rights in comprehensive responses to foreign fighters, and shift the current focus from security and punishment to justice and long-term p...

Image of Children looking through holes in a tent at al-Hol displacement camp in Hasaka governorate, Syria, on April 2, 2019.
Report

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 Releases

Accountability in Policing COVID-19: Lessons from the Field

The global COVID-19 pandemic forced many countries to impose emergency measures, such as curfews and community lockdowns, to stem the spread of the virus. To enforce these measures, some societies have given regular police forces increased power to enforce the measures, while others h...

by

Anna Myriam Roccatello and Mohamed Suma

Briefing Paper

Leaving Behind the Worst of the Past: Transitional Justice and Prevention in Sierra Leone

This study analyzes how transitional justice in Sierra Leone has contributed to prevention by responding to the grievances of those harmed by violations, reducing exclusion, addressing through institutional reforms the causes of past violence, and catalyzing long-term change. While tr...

by

Ibrahim Bangura

Report

Transitional Justice and Prevention: Summary Findings from Five Country Case Studies

This report summarizes the findings of an ICTJ research project on the contribution of transitional justice to prevention. Drawing from five country case studies, it contends that addressing the past can help to prevent the recurrence not only of human rights violations but also viole...

by

Roger Duthie

A young person with back facing the viewer is wearing a T-shirt that reads “Colombia in Peace"
Report

Opportunity for Visionary Proposals in Venezuela

In Venezuela, there is now an absence of representative democracy and a vacuum of public trust in politicians. However, this situation presents an opportunity for other actors and other approaches, so far disparaged by hardliners on both sides. Civil society organizations, which have earned credibility through their dedicated work addressing the humanitarian crisis and defending human rights, can seize this opportunity.

01/14/21
In Focus

The Movement of Latin American Hip Hop Expressions and ICTJ Cohost an International Hip Hop Festival on Truth, Memory, and Resistance

Bogotá, November 20, 2020— ICTJ and the Movement of Latin American Hip Hop Expressions have joined forces to cohost the third International Hip Hop Encounter, which will take place virtually this week from November 25 to November 28. The four-day online event will bring together artists and musicians from across Latin America and Africa along with activists, social leaders, and civil society representatives. The festival’s theme is the role of hip hop music and culture in uncovering truth, preserving memory, and resisting violence and oppression.

11/23/20
Press Releases

Can a Strong Message of Justice and Inclusion Lead to a Political Transition in Venezuela?

The political crisis in Venezuela has reached a breaking point. The upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for December 6 threaten to deprive the opposition of its institutional foothold, on which the legitimacy of its demand to establish an interim government rests. Moreover, observers both inside and outside Venezuela have repeatedly warned that the conditions are unsuitable for fair and impartial elections. A political solution now depends on the government backpedaling from its recent refusal to postpone the elections and allowing the European Union to observe them. It also requires the opposition to take a clear stance beyond calling for the removal of the president.

10/08/20
In Focus

Truth, Accountability, and Asset Recovery: How Transitional Justice Can Fight Corruption

On March 2 and 3, 2020, transitional justice and anti-corruption policymakers, experts, and activists from the Gambia, Kenya, South Africa, Armenia, and Tunisia met in Tunis for a two-day conference to share solutions to a common problem: How can countries emerging from dictatorship, ...

by

Ruben Carranza

Report

Reflections and Recommendations for Transitional Vetting

This policy brief presents recommendations for transitional vetting based on insights from research on vetting practice. It is meant to complement existing guidelines on vetting put forth by the United Nations and other international organizations. It defines vetting and the risks it ...

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Daniel Blocq, Alexander Mayer-Rieckh, and Roger Duthie

Research Brief

From Optimism to Disillusionment: Examining Civil Society Perceptions of Police Vetting in Kenya

This report examines the police vetting in Kenya that was part of a broader reform in response to the 2007-2008 post-election violence, focusing on why civil society became disillusioned with the initiative. Drawing on interviews with civil society representatives and former members o...

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Daniel Blocq, Mary Mwikali, and Agatha Ndonga

Report