Resource Library

This briefing paper examines the Tunisian Truth and Dignity Commission’s approach to investigating Ben Ali dictatorship-era corruption crimes and identifying responsible institutions and individuals, and whether it laid the foundation for accountability and reparation. While it fell s...

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...

Lebanon has long been afflicted by a combination of political deadlock and a lack of accountability that has resulted in ongoing human rights violations and overall systemic rot. Comprehensive reforms, along with an inclusive truth-seeking process, broad public dialogue, and other way...

Building on its work in Tunisia since 2012, ICTJ met with representatives of youth-led civil society organizations and social movements and state institutions involved in pursuing accountability for Ben Ali-era corruption. This paper focuses on the strategies and insights that members...

On February 12, 2019, the Assembly of the African Union adopted the African Union Transitional Justice Policy. The policy serves as a guide for member states on effective and credible transitional justice processes to achieve sustainable peace, justice, reconciliation, social cohesion...

In its primary findings, Kenya's Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission noted that women and girls have been subject to systematic, state-sanctioned discrimination in all spheres of their lives, and that the state has failed to take measures to end the practices that restrict wo...

Between April 15 and May 3, 2019, ICTJ held a number of consultations with Kenyan youth from several informal settlements in Nairobi and Mombasa to reflect on their understanding of security sector reforms and their connection to the ongoing national dialogue process, particularly as ...

In its report, the Kenya Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission concluded that “corruption is endemic in Kenya” and that “there is a direct link between corruption and gross violation of human rights.” This paper considers the extent of impunity for corruption in Kenya, how corr...

In February 2019, ICTJ hosted an international symposium on gender and transitional justice in Tunisia that brought together representatives from eight countries where ICTJ has been actively engaged in implementing a gender-focused approach to its programming. This briefing paper pres...

This briefing paper presents findings from a study based on interviews with 121 Syrian refugees living in Jordan. It aims to provide a better understanding of the impact the conflict in Syria has had on refugees, including the harms and losses they have suffered; their expectations, c...

This paper explores political exclusion in Kenya and its consequences on the social fabric of the nation. It draws from past governmental reports and analysis to formulate new recommendations that can inform current discourse. It first provides an overview of ethnicity in Kenya. It th...

By looking at the documentation efforts of Syrian civil society organizations, this paper challenges the notion that criminal prosecution is the sole avenue of justice available for alleged crimes in Syria. Documentation could be used for important other avenues of justice, such as ac...

This briefing paper focuses on the role of victims of human rights violations in criminal proceedings. This paper will provide examples of recent developments in the advancement of victim participation in criminal proceedings in international criminal law and domestic jurisdictions.  ...

Pursuing justice in a transitional context may take the form of multiple measures and goes beyond the pursuit of criminal prosecutions. Tunisia’s Basic Law on Transitional Law, adopted in December 2013, is a case in point. Despite its flaws, the the law introduced a fairly comprehensi...

In some contexts, the global community has resorted to international tribunals to prosecute the most serious past crimes, such as war crimes, crimes against of humanity, and genocide. While these international efforts contributed significantly to international justice, they were resou...

Although youth are key political and social stakeholders who have much to contribute to—and gain from—transitional justice processes, they often remain marginalized from such processes or are given only a limited and predetermined space in which to engage. In recent years, the peacebu...

For decades, Kenyans have yearned for a police service that is accountable to the people and adheres to national laws and international human rights standards. The police stand accused of regularly meting out violence on the public, extra-judicial killings, and other human rights viol...

The term reconciliation has long been associated with the field of transitional justice and is often presumed to be one of its goals. At the same time, reconciliation has been both controversial and vague as a concept, giving rise to different understandings and approaches. This paper...

In transitional contexts, reporting does not simply present the facts, but instead shapes the parameters for interpreting divisive political issues. Coverage in such polarized contexts can mitigate or obscure the substance of transitional justice efforts to establish what happened, wh...

Côte d’Ivoire is obligated to provide reparations to victims of both the political violence that shook the country following the 2010 presidential elections and the different episodes of political violence and armed conflict since 1990. Fulfilling this obligation will show that the st...

As the refugee crisis deepens, does action on transitional justice issues have to wait for peace? A new paper explores what sort of consultation and documentation work can be done now, while conflict is ongoing, to shape outcomes moving forward.

This briefing paper calls on the soon-to-be-established NLD-led Burmese government to seriously consider taking steps to deal with Myanmar’s troubled past as a way to help end the cycle of violence and human rights violations in the conflict-torn country.

This paper examines the unique, enduring consequences of conflict-related sexual violence in northern Uganda, focusing specifically on the impact of the lack of accountability for sexual crimes leading to motherhood on girls and women, and on the children they bore as a result of viol...

This briefing paper details and analyzes the progress made so far in Tunisia to implement its historic Transitional Justice Law, with a particular focus on the Truth and Dignity Commission, created one year ago.

This briefing paper summarizes the findings of an ICTJ report (by the same name) on the judicial response to international crimes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It makes substantive recommendations to justice stakeholders in the DRC on how to advance prosecutions of internat...

The government of Uganda has been slow to address and remedy serious human rights abuses committed against civilians throughout the country, despite its commitment under the Juba peace talks. This paper analyzes some of the underlying factors that seem to impede the implementation of ...

This paper describes proceedings in Uganda’s national courts against Thomas Kwoyelo, a former mid-level commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army, for war crimes and crimes against humanity. It analyzes the opportunities and challenges for the prosecution of serious crimes in Uganda and...

This briefing paper analyzes and reflects on the development of the ICC prosecutor’s strategy and application of procedural rules, since operations began at the International Criminal Court more than a decade ago. The mixed results of the court’s first cases, which arise from the situ...

This briefing paper provides an overview of the proceedings against Thomas Lubanga before the International Criminal Court since the start of the prosecutor’s investigation in 2004 until the 2012 decisions of Trial Chamber I concerning the verdict, the sentence, and reparations. It id...

This paper provides a description of the brief proceedings against Callixte Mbarushimana and Sylvestre Mudacumura before the International Criminal Court.

This briefing paper provides an overview of the proceedings against Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo before the International Criminal Court. The conviction and sentence against Katanga signifies the first final judgment of the ICC.

This briefing paper examines the potential in Mali for appropriate and effective transitional justice approaches that are reflective of the primary concerns and demands of citizens. Over 30 interviews were conducted with a wide range of actors in Bamako, including representatives of t...

This briefing paper reviews the Kenyan government’s response to sexual and gender-based violence committed against women, men, and children during the 2007/2008 post-election crisis. It draws on interviews with over 40 survivors about their experience and analyzes the laws and transit...

This briefing paper summarizes the findings of consultations undertaken by ICTJ with women’s groups in Gulu, Lira, and Soroti on confronting impunity and engendering transitional justice processes in northern Uganda. Its purpose is to help incorporate women’s needs and justice demands...

This paper analyzes the contents of the Final Report that the Kenyan Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) presented to President Uhuru Kenyatta on May 21, 2013, after four years of investigations. In particular, it evaluates the report’s information and findings, the lo...

This briefing paper focuses on establishing a credible approach to accountability and human rights in a post-conflict Syria. Looking ahead to an eventual resolution to the war, it recognizes that Syrian authorities and civil society, as well as the international community, will have t...

This briefing paper focuses on the topic of prosecuting international and other serious crimes in Kenya, including crimes committed in the context of the postelection crisis of late 2007 and early 2008. In particular, it identifies and analyzes obstacles and opportunities for such pro...

Following field research in late 2009 and a 2010 workshop in Kinshasa, ICTJ produced a report in French on the challenges of enforcing court-ordered reparations. This briefing paper outlines and summarizes the challenges and recommendations discussed in the report. It also proposes ad...

National healing and reconciliation in Uganda requires a multilayered truth-telling process comprised of community and national processes that are mutually reinforcing and should not be mutually exclusive, as proposed by the JLOS report. A national truth-telling body should address is...

Since independence Ugandans have endured episodes of violence and human rights abuses across successive political regimes and transitions with devastating consequences. During two decades of conflict in the northern Uganda involving the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the government ...

In 2006, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) launched an unprecedented effort to document the violations of international humanitarian law in Afghanistan between 1978 and 2001. Though it has not yet been made public, the 1000-page AIHRC Conflict Mapping Report ...

Following field research in late 2009 and a 2010 workshop in Kinshasa, ICTJ produced a report in French on the challenges of enforcing court-ordered reparations. This briefing paper outlines and summarizes the challenges and recommendations discussed in the report. It also proposes ad...

The conviction of Thomas Lubanga is a milestone for the international criminal justice system established by the Rome Statute, and may make an important contribution to the development and definition of the right to reparations in international human rights law. ICTJ has produced a br...

Almost a year after the second post-election transition in Burundi, national and international attention is focused on the willingness and ability of the new government to implement the decisions agreed to during negotiations that culminated in the historic August 2000 peace and recon...

This paper explores practical issues regarding the relationship between the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and Special Court (SC) in Sierra Leone. It looks at: 1) the legal relationship of the Commission and the Court; 2) the question of whether the TRC information should b...

The development of effective transitional justice policies in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been plagued by lack of security, fear of destabilization, limited political will, and scarce resources. This paper focuses on three specific measures of transitional justice: prosecutio...

This paper discusses the significance of the trials of Saddam Hussein and his close associates held by the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal. It examines the challenges faced by the Tribunal - including concerns that the process was dominated by the U.S. government (hence undermining t...

This paper provides a brief history of Liberia, from Americo-Liberian rule in the 19th century to the 2005 elections. It provides accounts of the 1989-1996 and 1997-2003 civil wars, as well as of significant political changes and elections. It also includes appendixes of noteworthy in...

This paper summarizes the basic facts about the Dujail trial, the first trial before the Iraqi High Tribunal (IHT) against Saddam Hussein and seven others. It also summarizes facts about the IHT in general. It considers both what the Iraqis wanted out of the trial, what such prosecuti...

This update series summarizes developments in the Anfal trial of Saddam Hussein, his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, and five other co-defendants before the Iraqi High Tribunal. It covers the trial's defense and closing phases. Five of the six defendants were sentenced to either multiple ...