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A new book by ICTJ titled Justice Mosaics: How Context Shapes Transitional Justice in Fractured Societies examines the challenges of responding to massive human rights violations in different and difficult circumstances in today's world.

A new book from ICTJ explores the ways in which cultural and social factors interact with national efforts to achieve accountability and reform in the wake of human rights abuses or conflict. How can journalists influence national views on a legacy of violence? How can art be used to spark discussions on accountability? These and other questions are addressed in Transitional Justice, Culture, and Society: Beyond Outreach.

Three human rights groups have joined together to publish a new English edition of Hatun Willakuy, a book presenting the abridged findings of Peru’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, on its tenth anniversary. The book, which is available online, will allow a larger number of readers to benefit from the findings of Peru’s truth-seeking process.

Since time immemorial, justice for a crime has generally meant punishment of the wrongdoer. Even today, some members of society, including victims and lawmakers, still believe that justice is not served unless the guilty party receives a stern and punitive sentence, such a long prison term or even capital punishment for the most serious crimes. However, the theory of justice has evolved tremendously in the last century, and especially in recent decades. Transitional justice processes, in particular, have helped shift the focus of criminal accountability for gross human violations from punishing the offender to fulfilling the victim’s rights to truth, redress, and guarantees of non-recurrence. In doing so, these processes seek to mend the social fabric in societies emerging from, and often torn apart by, violent conflict or repression and to lay the foundation for lasting peace and reconciliation. A justice that focuses on repairing the harm rather than punishing the crime is commonly referred to as reparative justice. Restorative justice traces its roots to traditional and indigenous judicial systems, in which the whole community often participates in administering justice for a crime. Colombia’s ongoing Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) represents the most ambitious process to date to incorporate restorative justice practices into its mandate and operations. Established by the 2016 peace agreement to hold to account those responsible for mass human rights abuses committed during Colombia’s 50-yearlong civil war with the guerrilla group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the JEP takes an unprecedented mixed approach that integrates substantive restorative justice strategies alongside retributive justice sanctions. As part their sentencing before the court, perpetrators who acknowledge their responsibility for crimes actively participate in restorative justice measures that serve to repair the harms inflicted on the victims and their communities. The recent ICTJ report A Mixed Approach to International Crimes: The Retributive and Restorative Justice Procedures of Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace describes the court’s mixed model, delves into its innerworkings, and critically assesses its restorative justice components and their impact. Last year, ICTJ hosted a weeklong conference on restorative justice in Bogotá, Colombia, led by three of the world’s most prominent experts in the field: Roberto Cornelli and Adolfo Ceretti from Italy, John Braithwaite from Australia, and ICTJ’s own Deputy Director and Director of Programs Anna Myriam Roccatello. Over the course of the week, these experts met both publicly and privately with members of the JEP, victims, ex-combatants, members of the armed forces, and academics to discuss the role of restorative justice in criminal accountability in general and specifically in the implementation of Colombia’s peace agreement. John Braithwaite, Adolfo Ceretti, and Roberto Cornelli, also made some time to sit down with ICTJ to discuss restorative justice and Colombia’s transitional justice process. The video below presents excerpts from these filmed interviews.

New York, March 1, 2022—“There can be no peace in Syria until the rights of the wrongfully detained, disappeared, and their families are fully restored,” warns a new publication released today by the Bridges of Truth, a collaborative of eight Syrian civil society organizations and ICTJ. A Guide to...

New York, December 4, 2019—"Get ready to speak up and be heard because your voice matters!”—that is the message a new guidebook released today on transitional justice sends to Syrian youth. Produced by ICTJ and Dawlaty, a Syrian human rights organization based in Beirut, the guidebook introduces the concepts of transitional justice to young audiences in an engaging and interactive way while capturing the challenges of applying them in difficult contexts.

A new handbook written by ICTJ vice president Paul Seils explores the relationship between the ICC and national courts.

The end of 2022 in Venezuela was marked by signs of willingness from all parties to take concrete steps toward democracy. The government and the opposition resumed negotiations and agreed to allow the United Nations to manage a fund for billions of dollars of frozen assets, which would be gradually released to address the country’s humanitarian crisis. The United States authorized the Chevron Corporation to resume limited operations for importing Venezuelan oil. Finally, the 2015 National Assembly voted to end the opposition-led interim government. While these steps are initial ones to create the conditions for trust among the parties, they offer opportunities to improve the dire circumstances in which many Venezuelans currently live.

In the aftermath of massive human rights violations, the voices of young people carry enormous potential: they can tell the truth about the past while offering new paths forward as their societies pursue peace and justice. However, if institutions want the insights of young people, they must avoid pre-formulated solutions and instead engage with youth on their own terms. A new guide released by ICTJ today aims to provide the tools necessary to do so, offering recommendations about how to responsibly and effectively gather statements from young people.

When armed conflict or atrocities have torn a society apart, it can be difficult for people to regain trust in the government and reconcile with those they see as their enemies or abusers. While the idea of reconciliation has been closely linked to transitional justice, misunderstandings of the term have sometimes led to superficial, even harmful approaches to addressing the past. A new paper from the International Center for Transitional Justice looks at different understandings of reconciliation and its place in transitional justice.