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Through its initiatives in several countries, ICTJ has learned that hip hop music can be a powerful and effective way to engage young people in transitional justice issues, such as truth, memory, and reconciliation, and encourage their participation in ongoing processes. The music, which particularly appeals to younger generations, can uniquely connect them to historical and ongoing injustices through a cathartic musical experience. It can also inspire them to resist oppression and to demand justice and positive social and political change. In the Gambia and Côte d’Ivoire, for instance, ICTJ partnered with rising hip hop artists in an effort to educate young people about transitional justice processes underway in their respective countries and motivate them to take part in them. The artists created hip hop music about issues related transitional justice, effectively reaching a segment of the population that may not have otherwise known the full extent of past abuses or paid attention to policies meant to address them. These ICTJ-led initiatives fomented creativity and democratized knowledge about how to deal with gross human rights violations after conflict or repression. Several of the young people who participated in them later became leaders in their communities. Knowing the positive role hip hop music can play in the pursuit of truth, justice, and redress, ICTJ staff members from different country offices discussed the idea of holding an international hip hop festival in Colombia where hip hop artists from around world could come together, learn from their each other’s experiences, and share their ideas about transitional justice issues with other artists, experts, practitioners, and civil society representatives. After many months of planning and numerous postponements due to the global COVID-19 public health crisis, ICTJ's office in Colombia joined forces with the Movement of Latin American Expressions of Hip Hop (MELAH) and the online cultural outlet Revista Cartel Urbano to host the hybrid virtual and live International Hip Hop Encounter in Bogotá, Colombia on November 25 through November 28. The four-day event assembled artists, musicians, and activists from across Latin America and Africa for live performances and to discuss the role of hip hop music and culture in uncovering truth, preserving memory, and resisting violence and oppression. Black and Latinx youth in the South Bronx, in New York City, created hip hop music and culture in the 1970’s, against a backdrop of urban blight, poverty, and rising violent and often drug-related crime. The artistic and cultural movement has since spread to nearly every country around the globe. The music, graffiti, and breakdancing often articulate the hardships of marginalized populations and their desire for justice and greater opportunities, regardless of the country where they are made.  Many marginalized populations today, especially those in countries with legacies of gross human rights violations, still grapple with poverty, inequality, social exclusion, and targeted police brutality. For young people in these communities, hip hop remains a relevant tool to help affirm their dignity in face of discrimination and an outlet of creative expression and cultural resistance.  Learn more about the international hip hop encounter here:  

New York, March 10, 2021—“We want to turn the page, but not at the cost of justice”—that was a message repeated by victims of human rights abuses interviewed in a new report released today on transitional justice in the Central African Republic (CAR). Produced by the International Center for Transitional Justice and Cordaid, ‘A Drop of Water on a Hot Stone’: Justice for Victims in the Central African Republic presents findings from a study exploring victim-centered approaches to justice in CAR and their feasibility in a context of profound fragility and extreme poverty.

Providing justice to victims of human rights abuses in fragile contexts such as the Central African Republic (CAR) is challenging for reasons related not only to the state’s stability, capacity, and political will, but also socioeconomic inequality in the country. This research report describes the contextual obstacles and operational challenges in CAR and examines the notion of justice and its feasibility from the perspective of a victim-centered approach.

For many young people in countries that have experienced gross human rights violations, hip hop culture has been a lifeline and a surefire way to communicate their concerns and their will to resist oppression and change reality for the better. Through its initiatives in several countries, ICTJ has learned that hip hop can be a powerful and effective way to engage young people in issues of truth, memory, and reconciliation. In the midst of COVID19, ICTJ in Colombia, Revista Cartel Urbano, and MELAH cohosted the third International Hip Hop Festival. The event virtually brought together artists from Africa and Latin America for four days of panel discussions, workshops, and concerts. The festival’s theme was the role of hip hop music and culture in uncovering truth, preserving memory, and resisting violence and oppression. To learn more about the festival, watch this video:

Ten years have passed since Tunisians took the streets to demand “Employment, Freedom, and National Dignity.” The revolution’s loud, courageous voice against corruption, extreme inequality, and repression echoed around the globe and inspired the “Arab Spring.” Today, Tunisians are still proud of their revolution. However, they continue to strive for goals, yet unattained, that the political class does not even seem to understand. It was thus not surprising to see large protests on the 10th anniversary, demanding concrete action and new public policies to advance social justice and better integrate marginalized regions and populations.

2020 was a year of unforeseen hardships throughout the world. We may wish to write off last year as a loss and move forward. However, looking back on it as we do in this 2020 Year in Review, in which we highlight our most read content, we can find and take heart in important victories and apply lessons learned in 2021 and beyond.

On February 4, 2021, the International Criminal Court issued its judgment in the case of the Prosecutor v Dominic Ongwen. The ICC found Ongwen guilty of 61 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Northern Uganda between July 1, 2002, and December 31, 2005. The verdict recognizes the enduring impact of the crimes on the victims, their families, and Ugandan society more generally.

On February 4, 2021, the prominent activist, intellectual, writer, and filmmaker Lokman Slim joined the long list of victims of violence and impunity in Lebanon. The courageous human rights and political activist was found shot to death in his car in southern Lebanon.

On January 14, 2021, Uganda held presidential and parliamentary elections. Incumbent President Museveni, who has been in power for 34 years, faced off against 10 opposition candidates, including pop star-turned-politician and main contender Robert Kyagulanyi, also known by his stage name Bobi Wine, of the National Unity Platform (NUP). The 2021 elections saw unprecedented state-sponsored violence, harassment of opposition candidates, and repression of civil society.

New York, January 25, 2021—"You cannot deliver 500 kilograms of transitional justice,” explains a high-level UN official in a new ICTJ report released today that explores the theoretical and practical challenges of measuring the results of transitional justice processes. These processes are complex and politically contested and are thus notoriously difficult to evaluate. The report offers key insights related to and tools for evaluating and monitoring transitional justice processes and assessing their impact.