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ICTJ’s partner Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization (AHRDO) recently opened a new virtual museum and database dedicated to Afghan victims of conflict and human rights abuses. “The Afghanistan Memory House” not only preserves the memory of these victims but helps pave the path for truth and justice. To launch the virtual museum, ICTJ and AHRDO cohosted a panel discussion on memorialization, moderated BBC journalist Lyse Doucet, in ICTJ’s office in New York this past December.

Since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in August 2021, the regime has put in place a series of policies severely restricting independent media and giving it all but total control over news outlets and their content. Kobra Moradi is a lawyer and researcher working with Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization and author of the recent report, Afghan Media Under the Taliban: Restrictions and Violations . ICTJ sat down with the author to learn more about what impact these restrictions have had on journalists and the free press, and the important role media can still play in such a repressive regime.

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.

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.

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...

Afghanistan is a tragic example of how a country in transition can dramatically reverse course on the arduous path toward peace and democracy and return to an abyss of violence and repression at breakneck speed. In the span of a few short weeks, the Taliban regained control over the country. When they finally entered Kabul, the internationally backed Afghan government collapsed. Now in charge, the Taliban has lost no time in demonstrating their goal to re-impose the same extremist and oppressive rule, despite initial declarations affirming a commitment to peace and human rights.

It only takes a quick skim of the daily news to see how the world has yet again failed Afghan civilians. Afghanistan has not had many good years in the past four decades of war, but the past 15 months have been decidedly fraught. The current chaos and spiking violence are proof that, despite what the US government has proclaimed, the “forever war” rages on. Peace and meaningful, victim-centered justice remain elusive.

After several years hiatus, ICTJ has recently resumed work in Afghanistan. Last month, ICTJ’s communication intern, Edward Mercado-Gumbs, sat down with expert and cohead of ICTJ’s program in Afghanistan Reem El Gantri to discuss ICTJ’s latest engagement in the country, as well as the prospects for justice and peace.

Criminal accountability and the search for truth about abuses committed during Nepal’s armed conflict have become inextricably intertwined, at the expense of victims’ broader rights to truth. But for conflict victims, the truth is more than just a pathway to criminal justice writes ICTJ's Aileen Thomson.

This volume examines the effects, risks, and potential of extending the field of transitional justice to cases that do not present a key moment of political transition to peace or democracy and instead are defined by political continuity and ongoing conflict. It begins with analyses o...

What happens when a state refuses to acknowledge the suffering of victims of mass atrocities? Or when the public celebrates perpetrators as heroes? Earlier this month, a panel discussion hosted by The International Center for Transitional Justice and New York University’s Center for Global Affairs grappled with the impact of denial on justice.

Can truth commissions help secure a just peace following a violent conflict in which massive human rights abuses are committed? In this special series of the ICTJ Forum, we present a series of conversations with some of the world’s top peace mediators and truth commission experts, whose collective experience include years on the front lines of critical peace agreements in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

In this edition of the ICTJ Forum, ICTJ Communications Director Refik Hodzic discusses transitional justice in the news with Truth and Memory Program Director Eduardo Gonzalez and Reparative Justice Program Director Ruben Carranza. They look at the meaning and impact of the explosive new documentary “The Act of Killing," discuss the 10-year anniversary of Peru's truth and reconciliation commission, and peace talks in the Philippines.

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.

This joint report released today by the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) and the Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy (ELSHAM-Papua) provides important insight into the ongoing debate on steps required to achieve a sustainable peace in Papua. The report reviews Papua's recent history within a transitional justice framework, and provides expert recommendations on truth seeking, justice, reparations, institutional reform, and enforcing the rights of women victims.

This joint report by ICTJ and the Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy (ELSHAM-Papua) provides important insight into the ongoing debate on steps required to achieve a sustainable peace in Papua. The report reviews Papua's recent history within a transitional justice framewor...

“We women of Papua have been bruised, cornered, besieged from all directions. We are not safe at home, and even less so outside the home. The burden we bear to feed our children is too heavy. The history of the Papuan people is covered in blood, and women are no exception as victims o...

Following a restive year, Indonesia's human rights record is one of the situations under review during the 13th session of the UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process in May–June 2012.

The People’s Representative Assembly of Indonesia passed on September 7, 2004, a bill creating a “Truth and Reconciliation Commission”, which is charged with clarifying abuses committed before 2000 and determining whether to award individualized amnesties for perpetrators and reparati...

A report released today by ICTJ, together with the Indonesian Association for Families of the Disappeared (IKOHI) and the Coalition for Justice and Truth (KKPK), calls on the government to fulfill its obligations to provide reparations to thousands of victims of gross human rights violations.

JAKARTA, Dec. 12, 2011 —A report released today by the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), together with the Indonesian Association for Families of the Disappeared (IKOHI) and the Coalition for Justice and Truth (KKPK), calls on the government of Indonesia to fulfill its obligation to provide reparations to thousands of victims of gross violations of human rights.

Thirteen years after the fall of Soeharto, victims in Indonesia continue to suffer from the negative effects of gross human rights violations and from ongoing discrimination. Although efforts by the president and the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) to create a reparation...

Indonesia has initiated transitional justice mechanisms to address human rights abuses that occurred during and after the New Order regime, but insufficient political will has rendered these efforts inadequate in achieving justice and reconciliation for victims.

JAKARTA, Nov. 15, 2011 —Experts and stakeholders from Cambodia, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Burma, Timor-Leste, Thailand, and Nepal, along with international experts are gathering in Jakarta’s Hotel Atlet from November 15–16 to discuss the need for progress on prosecuting serious crimes in Asia.

In this podcast, ICTJ speaks with Hadi Marifat, founder of the Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization (AHRDO). ICTJ, AHRDO and local Afghan organizations are working together on an innovative arts-based approach to discussing Afghanistan’s conflict and transitional justice issues at the grassroots level. Community theater provides a space for victims of war to connect with one another and share their experiences. [Download](/sites/default/files/Marifat_ICTJ_Podcast_11022011.mp3) | Duration: 7:58mins | File size: 4 KB

On October 11, PBS will launch the five-part series "Women, War & Peace," focusing the dialogue about conflict and security on the roles women play both as targets of violence and key partners in the peace process. ICTJ sat down with two of the three producers, Pamela Hogan and Gini Reticker, to discuss insights from the upcoming series. [Download](/sites/default/files/Hogan_and_Reticker_ICTJ_Podcast_10052011.mp3) | Duration: 14:38mins | File size: 8.75MB

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.

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

This report focuses on 12 trials that took place before the Indonesian Ad Hoc Human Rights Court between March 2002 and August 2003. It analyzes the prosecution efforts and quality of the judgments, and assesses the political and institutional context in which these trials took place....

This paper summarizes the results of a mapping survey on transitional justice initiatives in Indonesia undertaken by ICTJ from August 2002 to May 2003. While the Indonesian government has created several state agencies and laws to address past cases of violence, it is still plagued by...

This briefing note provides a short overview of the conflict in Afghanistan's recent history, and the ongoing discussions and initiatives to address human rights violations and war crimes there. The state-building process, launched in 2001 after the ousting of the Taliban regime, has ...

This report outlines Indonesia's international law obligations to provide remedies to the "1965 victims" of General Soeharto's persecution and stigmatization of those affiliated with the Indonesia Communist Party. It traces the history of this persecution, provides an overview of curr...

In this amicus brief to the Indonesian Constitutional Court, ICTJ submits that the legislation establishing the Indonesian Truth and Reconciliation Commission ("TRC law") contravenes international law. ICTJ contests the provisions of the TRC law that allow for the granting of amnesty ...

In Afghanistan, community theater has begun to be used as a method of transitional justice to give victims a voice and create positive impulses for peacebuilding. According to a new briefing paper released by ICTJ, through theater, victims are able to create a “safe space” to discuss ...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: A joint report released by the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) and KontraS (the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence) examines the variety of state-sponsored initiatives to address mass violations of human rights in Indonesia s...

A joint report released by the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) and KontraS (the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence) examines the variety of state-sponsored initiatives to address mass violations of human rights in Indonesia since the fall of So...

In August 2006 the Security Council created the UN Serious Crimes Investigation Team, as an extension of the previous investigation under the UN Integrated Mission Timor-Leste.

The purpose of this paper is to outline a proposal for a reparations program for Timor-Leste. Timor-Leste has experienced a number of mechanisms designed to provide justice for past wrongs. These have attempted to provide truth, criminal justice, and security sector reform. However to...

ICTJ hosted a meeting, “Peace and Justice in Asia,” with a particular focus on Indonesia, Timor-Leste, and Nepal, on December 2-3, 2008. The two-day conference brought together senior experts, officials, and community leaders from three distinct areas that have suffered conflict in In...

Indonesia and Timor-Leste created the Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF) bilaterally in 2005. The commission has not yet delivered substantive transitional-justice benefits, and its public hearings have seriously compromised the goals of truth and resconciliation. This report i...

Despite considerable progress, rising tensions between and among various actors have illuminated the need to evaluate peace-building efforts from a transitional justice perspective. This report, based on research conducted by ICTJ and Acehnese civil society, aims to provide such an ev...

To date there has been limited judicial accountability for crimes committed by the Indonesian military forces in Aceh despite compelling evidence of their involvement in mass crimes. Commitments that were part of the 2005 Helsinki Memorandum of Understanding, to establish a truth and ...

Although the inclusion of an amnesty clause was avoided in the stabilization and state-building agreement signed in December 2001, the Afghan government has shown little political will to promote transitional justice.

In July 2008 the Timorese-Indonesian Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) submitted its final report on atrocities committed in East Timor in 1999. Previously the CTF had been criticized by human rights groups, especially in relation to its power to recommend amnesties and its con...

Indonesia’s history is littered with episodes of mass violence, whether state-sponsored, communally driven or separatist in nature. But in recent times the Indonesian government has successfully negotiated several peace agreements and brought about an end to mass human rights violatio...

In the lead up to Afghanistan's second cycle of elections in 2009 and 2010, this report aims to analyze the legal and operational framework for vetting candidates in the upcoming elections; describe and assess the challenges to the vetting process in the previous elections; map out po...

Political choices made early on in the state-building process have contributed to the current governance and rule of law deficit in Afghanistan. European actions have been marked by a lack of coordination between political and development assistance as well as diverse – and sometimes ...

Background on the rise in instability and deterioration in security in Afghanistan since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001. ICTJ summarizes the actions of the Karzai government in implementing transitional justice reforms based off findings of the Afghanistan Independent Human Righ...

While Afghanistan goes through tremendous transition, it is important for justice and reconciliation actors to build transitional justice and gender initiatives based on experiences in other postconflict contexts.

On August 20, 2009, Afghans went to the polls for the third time since the U.S.-led military intervention in 2001. Accountability and justice were underlying themes in the election, as made clear by many of the issues that attracted public attention. Nonetheless “calls for justice” re...