This report outlines Indonesia's international law obligations to provide remedies to the "1965 victims" of General Soeharto's persecution and stigmatization of those affiliated with the Indonesia Communist Party. It traces the history of this persecution, provides an overview of current discriminatory laws and practices, and summarizes efforts to end such practices. It suggests implementing a comprehensive reparations framework within a coherent transitional justice strategy.
This update series summarizes developments in the Anfal trial of Saddam Hussein, his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, and five other co-defendants before the Iraqi High Tribunal. It covers the trial's defense and closing phases. Five of the six defendants were sentenced to either multiple life sentences or death. Charges against the sixth defendant, al-'Aani, were dismissed for lack of evidence.
This paper summarizes the basic facts about the Dujail trial, the first trial before the Iraqi High Tribunal (IHT) against Saddam Hussein and seven others. It also summarizes facts about the IHT in general. It considers both what the Iraqis wanted out of the trial, what such prosecutions can achieve, and evaluates the trial itself.
This paper provides a brief history of Liberia, from Americo-Liberian rule in the 19th century to the 2005 elections. It provides accounts of the 1989-1996 and 1997-2003 civil wars, as well as of significant political changes and elections. It also includes appendixes of noteworthy individuals and a diagram mapping historical conflicts.
This book presents a series of essays on truth and criminal justice in Peru. It aims to contribute to analysis on how to strengthen and consolidate democracy there. The essays pay particular attention to the interests of individual victims' of human rights abuses, analyzing individual situations using sophisticated conceptual tools. They also devote attention to activist organizations, emphasizing the role of civil society in creating a strong democracy.
This case study provides basic information and policy analysis on the Special Court for Sierra Leone. It aims to help guide policymakers establishing and implementing similar mechanisms. The Court broke new ground in terms of narrowly focusing on those bearing the greatest responsibility for human rights abuses, allowing for a limited and efficient approach. However, the court faces significant challenges in terms of impact, legitimacy, fairness, and overall efficiency.
This report disscusses the Greensboro Truth and Reonciliation Commission's Final Report on the 1979 killings of five anti-Ku Klux Klan demonstrators. It focuses on a meeting of representatives from truth recovery efforts around the world to assess the Greensboro experience. Topics covered include best practices, lessons learned, and the potential of truth commissions for other communities and issues in the United States. It concludes that there is great potential to gain from this type of exchange, and that Greensboro is an inspiration for other communities.
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.