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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 prevention. The challenges to such an approach include the phenomenon’s transnational dynamic and the association of foreign fighters with contexts of terrorism and violent extremism.

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 of Truth project, a collaboration led by eight Syrian civil society organizations and ICTJ to raise awareness about the plight of detainees and the disappeared in Syria and their families.

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 successful in bringing perpetrators to justice when compared with countries without dedicated capacities. The report also analyses how specialized units have been instrumental in bringing justice to victims of the Syrian conflict.

These are especially challenging times for those of us who work to assist societies in dealing with a legacy of atrocities and massive human rights violations. Violent armed conflicts have increased in number, duration, and ferocity around the globe.

At a time when truth-seeking and reparations initiatives are taking hold across the United States, this report offers reflections from various civil society-led truth-seeking processes. Drawing on case studies from the United States, Colombia, Scotland, and West Papua, the report identifies lessons learned and best practices from these experiences and presents practical options for activists considering similar initiatives.

This study examines how transitional justice measures in Morocco have helped prevent state violence repression and social and economic exclusion. These measures included the Equity and Reconciliation Commission, which diagnosed some historical wrongdoings and called for reform to prevent their recurrence, and reparations, which provided important benefits to victims and drew attention to regional exclusion. The absence of regime change, however, has undermined the legitimacy of transitional justice and constrained its preventive impact.

This report examines the preventive impact of transitional justice mechanisms in Colombia before the 2016 peace agreement. It finds that these measures have contributed to prevention by strengthening institutional responses to rights violations, shaping the public agenda, developing a culture of human rights, and facilitating the reintegration of victims. It also concludes that transitional justice has not done all it could to promote the structural changes needed to resolve underlying violent dynamics.

This report presents findings from a study conducted by ICTJ, the Women’s Advocacy Network, and the Global Survivors Fund to assess the reparative justice needs of victims of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) in Uganda. The study is based on interviews and focus group discussions with survivors and other stakeholders. It urges the Ugandan government and relevant actors to implement a comprehensive reparations program that guarantees CRSV victims receive adequate, appropriate, and timely repair.

This report presents findings from research on the needs and expectations of survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in The Gambia. Based on focus group discussions with survivors and other stakeholders, it analyses obstacles to, as well as opportunities to improve, survivors’ access to justice and reparations. It urges all relevant actors, including the Gambian government, to establish and implement a national, comprehensive, gender-sensitive, and victim-centered reparations program.