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Transitional justice has for the most part not prioritized issues related to displaced persons. Transitional justice measures do, however, have a bearing on displaced persons’ interests and on efforts to resolve displacement, in particular with regard to durable solutions, which include return and reintegration in one’s place of origin, local integration in one’s place of refuge, and resettlement elsewhere. This paper explores the contribution that transitional justice can make to achieving durable solutions, focusing specifically on some of the ways in which justice measures can facilitate the integration or reintegration of displaced persons into communities and societies.

This paper explores the intersection between displacement and one particular mechanism of transitional justice—justice-sensitive security sector reform (JSSR). It aims to identify various ways in which JSSR can contribute to the protection of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), and how applying the principles of JSSR can improve the prospects of developing durable solutions to displacement—that is, of meeting the long-term safety, security, and justice needs of the displaced.

Refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) have often been directly affected by the crimes truth commissions seek to expose, and have a major stake in the success of transitional justice processes, which can shape the stability of post-conflict communities as well as the prospects for safe, dignified, and durable solutions to displacement. However, in many cases displaced persons have not been recognized as critical stakeholders in truth-telling processes, and truth commissions have often failed to substantively address forced migration as a human rights violation. This paper examines the importance of—and obstacles to—including issues of forced displacement in truth-seeking processes.

The International Center for Transitional Justice publishes a selection of excerpts from the Supreme Court's rulings and judgments regarding the Justice and Peace process.

Based on the findings of over 450 interviews, this briefing paper looks at the socioeconomic impact of enforced disappearances on the wives of the disappeared in Nepal. More than 1,000 people remain unaccounted for after Nepal’s 10-year conflict ended in 2006. The majority were young men with wives and children. The paper highlights the precarious economic situation that results from the loss of a husband who is usually the family’s sole breadwinner.

This report compiles information on hundreds of incidents of serious human rights violations that occurred in Lebanon from 1975 to 2008, including mass killings, enforced disappearances, assassinations, forced displacement, and the shelling of civilian areas. It reveals patterns of violence and provides an analysis of incidents within the framework of international human rights and humanitarian law. While not an exhaustive mapping, the report is intended to serve as a key resource on which future research and investigative work can be built. Its aim is to contribute to the debate on how to break the cycle of political violence and serious violations of human rights in Lebanon and bring about accountability, the rule of law, and sustainable peace.

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 to consider how to deal with crimes committed during the current conflict—and in preceding decades of repression under the Assad regime.

This report examines the situation of impunity in Lebanon that has persisted since the 1975-1990 war through the lenses of core elements of transitional justice. It analyzes Lebanon’s past experience of ineffective transitional justice measures -- including limited domestic trials, narrowly mandated commissions of inquiry, and incomplete remedies for victims -- and their impact on Lebanese society. The report derives lessons that could help to initiate a broader accountability process in Lebanon in the interest of long-term peace and security.

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 logic of the commission’s conclusions and recommendations, and the apparent efforts made by commissioners to examine notorious and contentious past conducts. The paper concludes that, despite the controversies that surrounded the TJRC during its tenure, the contents of the Final Report can be used to consolidate the search for justice for victims of historical injustices in Kenya.

This joint report by ICTJ and the Kofi Annan Foundation explores common assumptions about why truth commissions are created in the wake of armed conflict and what factors make them more likely to succeed – or fail. It arises from a high-level symposium hosted by the two organizations in November 2013, which provided an opportunity for policy makers, practitioners, and scholars with significant experience in peacebuilding and transitional justice to discuss and reflect on truth commissions and the challenges of addressing accountability in peace negotiations. The report includes a foreword by Mr. Kofi Annan, a summary of discussions, two analytical papers, five case studies, and a set of conclusions.