International Center for Transitional Justice

The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) assists countries pursuing accountability for past mass or human rights abuse. The Center works in societies emerging from repressive rule or armed conflict, as well as in established democracies where historical injustices or systemic abuse remain unresolved.

Mission Statement

In order to promote justice, peace, and reconciliation, government officials and nongovernmental advocates are likely to consider a variety of transitional justice approaches including both judicial and nonjudicial responses to human rights crimes. The ICTJ assists in the development of integrated, comprehensive, and localized approaches to transitional justice comprising five key elements: prosecuting perpetrators, documenting and acknowledging violations through nonjudicial means such as truth commissions, reforming abusive institutions, providing reparations to victims, and facilitating reconciliation processes.

The Center is committed to building local capacity and generally strengthening the emerging field of transitional justice, and works closely with organizations and experts around the world to do so. By working in the field through local languages, the ICTJ provides comparative information, legal and policy analysis, documentation, and strategic research to justice and truth-seeking institutions, nongovernmental organizations, governments and others.

History

While human rights organizations have traditionally focused on documenting violations and lobbying against abuse, the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) was founded on the concept of a new direction in human rights advocacy: helping societies to heal by accounting for and addressing past crimes after a period of repressive rule or armed conflict.

The ICTJ was first conceived at a strategy meeting hosted by the Ford Foundation in April 2000. More than two dozen participants, including legal scholars, as well as human rights advocates and practitioners, gathered to discuss ways of contributing to the rapidly emerging field of transitional justice.

The participants expressed broad support for the establishment of an organization focusing on transitional justice. The Foundation subsequently asked three consultants—Alex Boraine, Priscilla Hayner and Paul van Zyl—to develop a plan for such an organization. Their initial five-year proposal received funding support from the Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the Andrus Family Fund.

The ICTJ officially opened its doors in New York City on March 1, 2001, and within six months was operating in more than a dozen countries, as requests for assistance poured in. In 2004 Founding President Alex Boraine returned to South Africa to establish the Center’s Cape Town Office. Offices in Brussels and Geneva followed in 2005.

ee also

*Command responsibility
*Human rights abuse
*UN Convention Against Torture

External links

* [http://www.ictj.org ICTJ Homepage]