Resource Library

On February 13, 2024, the interactive cultural exhibit “If There Is Truth, There Is Future” opened to the public at Bogotá’s Center for Memory, Peace and Reconciliation. As part of the Colombian Truth Commission’s post-closure cultural and educational outreach activities, the exhibit aims to inform Colombians of all generations about the commission’s findings and inspire them to take action to prevent a recurrence of conflict.

The Arabic word “Zyara” means “visit” in English. The Zyara documentary series takes an innovative, deeply personal approach to storytelling with a view to nurturing collective social and emotional healing. Through candid encounters, it paints poetic portraits of four Yemenis refugees living in Oman, including a human rights lawyer and activist, a restaurant worker, a martial arts champion, and a businessman. By telling their stories and celebrating the resilient spirit of the Yemeni people, the Zyara project seeks to raise awareness and preserve truth and memory.

Human rights violations as well as any official response to them affect women’s lives in distinct, profound, and often unseen and unspoken ways. For a society grappling with mass atrocities, it is crucial to shed light on these diverse experiences, if they are ever to be acknowledged and repaired. Space must therefore be created for women victims to share their experiences. Libya is one such country. To help raise the voices of women victims and human rights defenders there, ICTJ has been collaborating with diverse women-led civil society organizations since 2019, bringing them together and helping them build their capacities.

In February 2024, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights hosted an event in Seoul, South Korea, marking the 10th anniversary of the release of the report of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. ICTJ Senior Expert Ruben Carranza spoke at the event and discussed lessons learned involving nonjudicial forms of accountability. In this interview, he talks about why a broader approach to transitional justice is necessary and how transitional justice measures can help promote peace and possible reunification on the peninsula.

On June 5 and 6, 2024, the African Union (AU) and the European Union (EU) hosted the fourth edition of the AU-EU Experts’ Seminar on Transitional Justice in Brussels, Belgium. The consortium implementing the Initiative for Transitional Justice in Africa, led by ICTJ, helped organize the event. The seminar explored how transitional processes can transform individual lives, societal relations, and dysfunctional state institutions.

The allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the final phases of the conflict in Sri Lanka, made in the Report of the Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka released on April 25, must be thoroughly investigated. This is the first comprehensive UN report examining the events in the Vanni region between January and May of 2009 and it alleges that “tens of thousands of civilians” were killed. The Government of Sri Lanka, but also the relevant international bodies, cannot claim credibility if these findings are ignored.

As the number of victims of violence against demonstrators in Syria, Yemen, Bahrain and elsewhere in the region rises, a question emerges for the government of Bashar al-Assad of Syria, but also those of Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen, Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifah of Bahrain and the vacillating international community: Can impunity for such crimes be permitted in this day and age?

Some habits die hard. This is especially true of ways of thinking. Despite significant changes in national and international law and practice in the last thirty years—the period that corresponds with the emergence of transitional justice as a field—the recent upheaval in the Middle East and Northern Africa region has provoked proposals that hearken back to a period that we may have thought long gone.

The international conference on transitional justice 'Addressing the Past, Building the Future: Justice in Times of Transition' concluded today in Tunis, following two days of discussions on justice models and measures implemented in transitions. View the conference blog The conference explored...

South Africa’s Constitutional Court recently made a landmark ruling on the right to speak the truth about crimes amnestied by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. ICTJ Truth-Seeking Consultant Howard Varney speaks about the ruling and its significance for South Africa and other countries.

As the United States and global audiences were informed of the death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of U.S. special forces, we are reminded how crucially important justice is in the discourse on America’s fight against terrorism. On the eve of these momentous events, ICTJ President David Tolbert spoke to an audience at American University in Washington about the need for the U.S. to ensure accountability for the conduct of its “war on terror.”

ICTJ is pleased to announce the appointment of Theodore M. Shaw to its Governance Board. Mr. Shaw is an internationally recognized leader in the field of civil rights law. His broad experience as a civil rights advocate and scholar will bring added strategic vision to the Center’s board.

For a long time, making compromises on justice with powerful perpetrators of mass atrocities has been an integral part of peace negotiations ending conflicts. The immediate concern of ending the violence often resulted in amnesties for war crimes and crimes against humanity, sometimes even...

As the United States and Colombia near the signing of a free-trade agreement and resolve differences over labor rights and other issues, the problematic extraditions of paramilitaries accused of savage crimes committed during the years of counter-insurgency remain far from the spotlight.

ICTJ spoke with Marlon Weichert, prominent human rights advocate and regional prosecutor with the Federal Public Ministry of Brazil (Ministério Público Federal), on Brazil's pending truth commission bill and calls for accountability measures addressing past violations in Brazil.

Brazil’s new government is showing strong support for the passage of a bill creating a National Truth Commission investigating past human rights violations, writes Eduardo González, director of ICTJ's Truth and Memory Program. ICTJ also spoke with Marlon Weichert, human rights activist and regional prosecutor for Brazil's Federal Public Ministry, on the current debate surrounding truth-seeking and accountability in Brazil.

May 24, 2011 – The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), Curious Pictures and Pivot Pictures hosted the premier of The Axe and the Tree: Zimbabwe’s Legacy of Political Violence at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Houghton, South Africa.

ICTJ is pleased to announce two films premiering at the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival (HRWIFF) in June. IMPUNITY (New York premiere) + Q&A with filmmakers What is the cost of truth for families immobilized by Colombia’s violent past? In 2005, Colombia started gathering evidence...

The arrest of Ratko Mladic reignited debates on a wide spectrum of related issues, from its implications on the prospects for true reckoning with the past in the countries of the former Yugoslavia to the possible jolt it will give to Serbia’s hopes of joining the European Union. Beyond the immediate impact on the region, the strongest reverberations of Mladic’s transfer to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) will be felt in the discourse on international justice.

On May 11, the South African Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DOJ) invited comments on new regulations governing the distribution of reparations to victims of the apartheid era in the form of medical and educational benefits. Civil society organizations and groups representing survivors’ interests have raised concerns regarding the scope of the regulations, as well as the DOJ’s overall failure to engage with survivors and consider their views when drafting reparations policies.

In April, the World Bank released its 2011 World Development Report (WDR) entitled Conflict, Security, and Development. It is the first WDR that links transitional justice to security and development and places human rights violations at the heart of its analysis of conflict. ICTJ has produced a fact sheet outlining the core findings of the report as they pertain to transitional justice.

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 International Criminal Court (ICC) must better communicate what is driving its actions to the public of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and elsewhere around the world if it is to develop confidence in its capacity to act as a guardian of international criminal law.

On March 31, 2010, the Serbian parliament adopted a declaration "condemning in strongest terms the crime committed in July 1995 against Bosniac population of Srebrenica" and apologizing to the families of the victims. The declaration is a step in the right direction and, potentially, an educational...

The UN Human Rights Council and its mechanisms, notably the system of special procedures, have approached justice for mass atrocities in a piecemeal and sometimes politicized manner, according to a new ICTJ policy briefing.