Resource Library

Many experts—including development agencies—are trying to improve donor support to democratic governance in fragile and conflict-affected countries. Yet aid institutions tend to promote better governance by promoting capacity in executive government, representation and accountability ...

The paper focuses on security sector reform (SSR) programmes in view of the prominence SSR now has in donor policy discourse and the ambitious objectives and broad scope of contemporary donor SSR policy. Issues such as human security, transitional justice and gender are also considere...

The practice of international peace mediation has been used to good effect in different conflict contexts. However, little systematic learning has been drawn from these experiences to date, and EU approaches and involvement in peace mediation appear ad hoc.

This document is a review of vetting programs that took place in two post-conflict (Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Liberia) and two post-authoritarian (Hungary and the Czech Republic) countries during the 1990s and early 2000s. It assesses the legacies of vetting and lustration processes...

Transitional justice is a response to systematic or widespread violations of human rights. It seeks recognition for victims and promotion of possibilities for peace, reconciliation and democracy. Transitional justice is not a special form of justice but justice adapted to societies tr...

The relationship between transitional justice and security system – or sector – reform (SSR)1 is understudied, yet both contribute to state-building, democratisation and peacebuilding in countries with a legacy of massive human rights abuse. Reforming the system to ensure security age...

In the aftermath of a conflict, a census and identification program (CIP) verifies membership within one or several security institutions, identifies their institutional boundaries, and helps ensure that individuals do not informally join or leave the institution(s). This report hopes...

Much of ICTJ’s work—and in fact much of the field of transitional justice—can be understood as the pursuit of effective remedies for victims of severe human rights violations. A remedy involves two elements: a victim’s access to the appropriate authorities to have his claim fairly hea...

Of the 26 countries in the lowest bracket of the UN Development Programme’s 2008 Human Development Index, six have large victim communities expecting reparations as a result of truthseeking and criminal justice measures.

The design and implementation of reparations for victims in the aftermath of large-scale and serious human rights violations is an area rife with challenges.