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This publication sets out basic considerations on prosecution initiatives. It is intended to assist United Nations field staff when advising on how to address the challenges of prosecuting perpetrators of crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. It focuses on the strategic and technical challenges these prosecutions face domestically, and denotes principle considerations that should be applied to all prosecutorial initiatives.

This publication sets out basic principles and approaches to truth commissions and is intended to assist policymakers in advising on the development of truth-seeking mechanisms. It summarizes lessons learned from the experiences of over 30 truth commissions in the past two to three decades. While truth commissions do not replace the need for prosecutions, they do offer some form of accounting for the past. The work of a truth commission may strengthen prosecutions that take place in the future.

This publication provides an operational framework for vetting and institutional reform. It is intended address the challenges of institutional and personnel reform in post-conflict States through the creation of vetting processes that exclude persons who lack integrity from public institutions. It is divided into three sections: 1) the concept of vetting in the context of institutional reform and transitional justice; 2) the political conditions of post-conflict or post-authoritarian reform; and 3) the operational guidelines themselves.

ICTJ has released One morning they came to our community: Stories of political violence in communities of Peru, a compilation of victims’ stories about Peru’s internal armed conflict from 1980 to 2000. The stories constitute an important form of recognizing the truth, as well as a demand for justice and reparations.

The appearance of Hosni Mubarak in the opening of his trial this week reassured millions of Egyptians that their revolutionary struggle was not in vain. But the truth about Mubarak’s ability to participate in his trial is still unclear. With the public doubting the court’s seriousness, Mubarak’s appearance could have been a political decision aimed at boosting confidence. If this is the case, the judiciary risks appearing politicized in the eyes of Egyptians.

Efforts underway to address the 2008 Kenyan post-election crisis and the conditions that caused it have provided the country with a unique opportunity to address its long history of human rights violations.

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 conflicting – priorities between European Union institutions and its member states.

A wide array of international donors are working with Timor-Leste to help support reform in the security sector. While many of these programmes have had a positive impact, donor-driven security reform agendas have been under-coordinated. Fortunately, this is beginning to change, as the Timorese government takes steps to play a greater role in coordinating and managing its own security sector reform agenda.

In societies split dysfunctionally and violently along evident identity fault lines, the challenge of guaranteeing security requires not piecemeal reform of police and/or military organizations, but a holistic, "whole of governance" approach. How different identities are recognized and accommodated in terms of garnering support for the SSR process through the design and implementation of specific reforms can be central to the legitimacy and success of the SSR project.