Courses and Fellowships

Are you interested in learning more about transitional justice? ICTJ conducts a wide range of courses for practitioners, academics and students.

In recent years, offerings have ranged from short workshops and intensive courses to our highly regarded fellowship programs. Many of our courses are organized in-country by our program teams, such as our 2009 Brazil Essentials Course or 2010 Burundi Policymakers Course. For other courses we partner with leading universities or respected NGOs.

 

2010 Offerings

ICTJ and the Barcelona International Peace Resource Center (Barcelona, Spain)
September 27 - October 2, 2010
Are Truth Commissions a new Paradigm for justice? Intensive Course on Truth-Seeking and
Transitional Justice | Course Description

(applications closed)

ICTJ and Centro de Derechos Humanos (Santiago, Chile)
March 1 - July 23, 2010
Human Rights and Democratization Processes | Course Description

(Applications closed)

Click here to find out more about previous workshops and courses run by ICTJ.

 

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ICTJ and the Barcelona International Peace Resource Center

Are Truth Commissions a New Paradigm for Justice?
Intensive Course on Truth-Seeking and Transitional Justice

Montjuïc Castle, Barcelona, Spain
September 27th to October 2nd, 2010
Application Form

The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), in partnership with the Barcelona International Peace Resource Center, and under the auspices of the City Council of Barcelona, is pleased to announce its second Intensive Course on Truth-Seeking and Transitional Justice: a one-week academic opportunity to learn and reflect about the phenomenon of the creation of truth commissions as a new instrument of justice around the world.

DATES & LOCATION

This course will be held from September 27th to October 2nd, 2010 at the Castell de Montjuïc. The castle, overlooking Barcelona and its harbor, is a majestic 17th century construction with a dramatic history. Former military prison, and execution ground of hundreds, including Lluis Companys, president of the Catalan Government during the Spanish Civil War, the castle is currently under a transformation process into an international peace centre, a cultural center and a site of memory.

TOPICS

This course will explore what happens when a society undergoing a deep political transformation confronts past human rights violations. This involves moral, political and legal questions of fundamental relevance for the quality of a successor regime after peace negotiations or democratic transitions.

Truth commissions will be the central focus of the course, although these will be studied in the broader context of a holistic approach to dealing with the past. The course will seek to understand how and why truth commissions have emerged as accountability mechanisms, what they seek to achieve, the principles they affirm and their varied relationships with criminal justice and trials. The course will critically appraise truth commissions around the world, recognizing both their strengths and weaknesses, success and failure.

The course will balance rigorous academic reflection and practical questions of relevance to practitioners. Those around the world who are directly connected to efforts to create or support truth commissions are strongly encouraged to apply.

Participants will receive a theoretical introduction to the field of transitional justice and then will delve into the challenges of truth-seeking institutions. Participants will examine the relationship between truth-seeking and other accountability mechanisms. In that light, the course will explore the potentials and challenges of truth-seeking as a political process, a cultural phenomenon and a legal obligation. The course will include a simulation exercise to explore the complexities of negotiating a truth commission and a visit to sites of memory in Barcelona.

OBJECTIVE

The course aims to equip busy professionals with the knowledge required to conceive, implement, and engage with transitional justice policies and programs that are in line with international best practices. The course also seeks to prepare practitioners directly involved with the creation or support of truth commissions with the tools necessary to make substantial contributions to these initiatives.

PROFILE OF CANDIDATES

The program is primarily targeted at mid-career and senior staff of multilateral agencies, governments, NGOs, foundations, and universities who wish to undertake an intensive course on cutting-edge developments in this important and expanding field. Practitioners directly involved in countries considering the establishment of truth commissions or similar efforts are especially encouraged to apply, as are practitioners directly involved in peacebuilding, democratization, or other contexts where transitional justice shows intersections and tensions between legality, politics and morality. We also welcome advanced graduate students/faculty in these fields.

DETAILS & COST

This course will be taught in English.

The course fee is 900 Euros, payable within 15 business days following admission into the course. Included in this fee is the cost of accommodation during the course in individual living quarters at the four star Hotel Catalonia Barcelona Plaza, as well as all meals, including daily refreshments; transportation to and from the hotel; and course materials. (Payment arrangements will be described in the acceptance letters.) Limited scholarships may be available, depending on funding.

INSTRUCTORS

The academic coordinator for the course is Eduardo González, Director of the Truth and Memory Program at ICTJ and former staff member at the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Other instructors will include former staffmembers of truth commissions and members of ICTJ directly involved in the support to truth-seeking initiatives around the world.

MATERIALS

Upon arrival at the course, applicants will receive a resource packet including a CD-ROM of extensive core readings and materials on transitional justice.

TRAVEL

Although ICTJ and the Barcelona International Peace Resource Center do not cover participants' travel, visa, or insurance costs, they will provide letters in support of participants' visa applications.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis, but are due no later than July 30th, 2010. Successful applicants will be notified in early August. The course will be limited to a maximum of 30 participants.

To apply for the course, please submit a brief cover letter, CV, one reference, and a completed application form to the following email address: fellowships@ictj.org. If you have any questions about the application procedure, please contact Joanna Rice directly at: jrice@ictj.org.

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ICTJ and Centro de Derechos Humanos

Postgraduate Fellowship Course on Human Rights and Democratization Processes

Santiago de Chile
1 March - 23 July 2010
A capacity-building program for Latin American professionals

The Postgraduate Fellowship Course on Human Rights and Democratization Processes, organized for the fifth year by the Centro de Derechos Humanos (CDH - Human Rights Center) of the University of Chile's Law School together with the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), will deal with issues related to human rights and transitions to democracy in societies that have been subjected to authoritarian regimes or armed conflict situations in the recent past, as well as with issues concerning the more general challenge of building viable, sustainable democratic systems.

This regional postgraduate program, which offers a limited amount of scholarships to professionals from different backgrounds, will combine online teaching (18 weeks) with classroom-based teaching and other academic activities in Santiago de Chile (2 weeks at the beginning and 1 week at the end of the course). Participants who successfully complete the study program will receive a Postgraduate Diploma in Human Rights and Democratization Processes from the Law School of the University of Chile.

Fluency in Spanish is essential for all applicants.

Applications will be received between 1 September and 30 October 2009.

Further information (in Spanish) may be found on the website of the Fellowship Course

Additional inquiries should be directed to postucdh@derecho.uchile.cl

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