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The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) assists countries pursuing accountability for past mass atrocity or human rights abuse. More
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Transitions
TJ News and Analysis from around the World
Under the Lens
Liberia: First Report on Media Coverage Launched
On March 20th the Liberia Media Center released its first report of media coverage of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia. The initiative, supported by the ICTJ and UNESCO Paris, seeks to monitor, document and evaluate all TRC-related print and radio news items in Liberian media for the duration of the Commission's public hearings.
According to the LMC, the role of media in promoting social change is well established, but media accountability has been secondary to media freedom and pluralism. The LMC seeks to address the issue of accountability by assessing the quality of TRC coverage, the prominence given to the TRC process, and journalists' adherence to the Press Union of Liberia Code of Ethics and the TRC Code of Conduct for Journalists.
The LMC began monitoring and documenting news coverage by three radio stations and six newspapers reporting on the TRC in January 2008 as a voluntarily funded initiative. Its report constitutes a partial assessment of media coverage thus far. The project is now looking at TRC reporting as well as local coverage of the ongoing trial of former President Charles Taylor. A full report on the project will be published in collaboration with ICTJ in November 2008.
Writing Truth and Reconciliation
On May 4, the annual PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature in New York will feature four authors of recent non-fiction accounts from Congo, Guatemala, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, discussing "Truth and Reconciliation: a National Reconciliation" as members of a panel moderated by Paul van Zyl, executive vice-president of the ICTJ.
Participants include:
Alexandra Fuller (author of "Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier," on her journeys with a Rhodesian war veteran through southern Africa);
Francisco Goldman ("The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop?" on the murder of Bishop Juan Gerardi, the Guatemalan human rights leader);
Lieve Joris ("The Rebel's Hour," story of a rebel leader turned army general in Congo);
Rian Malan (My Traitor's Heart," a highly personal exploration of the brutalities of apartheid).
"I believe that artists--authors, playwrights, filmmakers, poets, musicians--are often at the forefront of prompting a national conversation about past injustice," van Zyl said in advance of the event. "They invariably raise issues about accountability, complicity, enrichment, culpability and collusion in ways that are far more subtle than official processes are able to do."
Their discussion takes place May 4, beginning at 2 p.m. at the Celestes Bartos Forum of the New York Public Library's Humanities and Social Sciences Library, 5th Avenue and 42nd Street, New York. For ticket information, click here.
PEN American Center, a sponsor of the event, is the largest of the 141 centers of International PEN, the world's oldest human rights organization and the oldest international literary organization. PEN American Center, founded in 1922, works to advance literature, to defend free expression, and to foster international literary fellowship. The Center has a membership of 3,300 writers, editors, and translators.
Moroccans Reflect on Security Sector Reform
On April 9-10 the ICTJ, together with the Moroccan Center for the Study of Human Rights and Democracy and the Geneva Center for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) held a first-of-its-kind seminar in Rabat on reform of Morocco's security services.
The event brought together representatives of government, parliament, Morocco's Advisory Council on Human Rights, the various security agencies, civil society and the media to discuss the recommendations of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER).
The IER, established in April 2004 by King Mohammed VI, is the first truth-seeking body in the Middle East and North Africa. Its final report, released in January 2006, contains recommendations for reforming state institutions, including security agencies, in order to strengthen the rule of law and prevent the recurrence of human rights violations.
Moroccan participants were joined by experts from Guatemala, Northern Ireland, South Africa and Switzerland who shared their experiences on security sector reform. Moroccan media described the meeting as a significant first step toward carrying out the IER's recommendations. Those recommendations include consolidating constitutional guarantees to human rights, adopting a national strategy to fight impunity and making institutional reforms in the security and justice sectors.
Since December 2003, the ICTJ has worked closely with the different actors of the Moroccan transitional justice process, providing ongoing technical assistance and advice. The Center is now involved in efforts to assess the work of the IER and advance its recommendations.
Pictured above from right to left: Alexander Mayer-Rieckh (Head of SSR program at ICTJ), Abdelhay Moudden (member of the Moroccan Advisory Council on Human Rights), Habib Belkouch (President of the Center for the Study of Human Rights and Democracy), Mohamed Liddidi (Secretary General of the Moroccan Ministry of Justice), and Arnold Luethold (director of the MENA program at DCAF). Photo by ICTJ.
Colombia: Searching for an Evasive Justice
The demobilization of paramilitary groups in Colombia has generated high expectations about the government's ability to investigate, prosecute and punish those responsible for crimes against humanity committed over a period of more than 20 years. But Colombia's judicial system faces the task of providing justice to victims even as armed conflict continues.
In 2005, Colombia's congress established the procedures for prosecuting former paramilitary members for crimes committed before their demobilization. The legislation - Law 975 - paved the way for investigations into extrajudicial violence, including massacres, executions, forced displacements and sexual violence, in parts of the country where prosecutors had not been active.
The procedures, however, differ significantly from those of the International Criminal Court. Law 975 focuses attention on crimes to which the accused confesses at a special hearing. It also gives judges the discretion to impose a prison sentence of five to eight years for all crimes to which the defendant confesses.
At the ICC, prosecutors must convince judges of the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt based on evidence gathered during the investigation. Punishment at the ICC for crimes against humanity ranges from 30 years to life imprisonment.
In the last three years, some 125,000 people filed claims with the courts, far exceeding the judicial system's capacity. No less challenging for the state is systematic character of the crimes requiring investigation. Some victims face threats to their safety; many others face, at a minimum, frustration from a lack of information about the working of the courts.
Almost every difficulty is part of the complex balance between justice and peace. This still imperfect judicial approach, along with other, stronger transitional justice measures, may still allow victims to gain their full dignity and for justice to prevail.
ICTJ Hosts Private Performance
On March 12 the ICTJ hosted a private performance of Betrayed, a play by author and journalist George Packer. After the performance, guests participated in a discussion with Packer, ICTJ Deputy Director for the Middle East Miranda Sissons, and former ICTJ Iraq consultant and New York Times journalist Razzaq al Saiedi.
Betrayed, based on Packer's reporting in Baghdad, tells the story of three young Iraqi interpreters who jeopardized their lives on behalf of Americans in Iraq.
"The ICTJ strongly believes that any process of seeking accountability for the past must be locally owned," ICTJ President Juan E. Mendez said at the event. "One of the tragedies of the post-occupation fiasco in Iraq is that instead of strengthening Iraqi society, it fundamentally weakened and undermined it."
The event was held at the Culture Project in New York City and was attended by Ambassador Horcheit from Luxembourg, Ambassador Matussek from Germany and Ambassador McNee from Canada.
The ICTJ graciously thanks Mr. Ezra Zilkha for his generous support of the reception and performance.
Transitional Justice in The News
Peru's Supreme Court upheld a six-year prison sentence issued in December against former president Alberto Fujimori for ordering an illegal entry into a private home at the close of his 10-year rule. Fujimori, 69, is also on trial for alleged human rights abuses, including two death-squad killings of 25 people. If found guilty, he could be jailed for 30 years. This ruling reinforces the importance of national courts in seeking justice for past abuses, especially against former heads of state.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia suspended Commissioner Pearl Brown-Bull for what it said was a conflict of interest. The commissioner allegedly violated mandatory provisions of the TRC Act that require a full-time commitment. The Liberian TRC was created as part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in 2003 to end the country's brutal civil war. The TRC formally launched the active phase of its two-year mandate on June 22, 2006.
Thousands of Zimbabweans are fleeing across the Limpopo River into South Africa amid post-election violence. The election commission halted the release of results of the March 29 presidential election when early reports indicated that Robert Mugabe, who has served as the country's president for 28 years, was losing to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Official results of the presidential contest still have not been released, and a recount in 23 parliamentary races is threatening to overturn the opposition's apparent parliamentary majority. The leading opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, reports that more than 400 MDC supporters have been arrested, 500 attacked and 10 killed and 3,000 families displaced in the aftermath of the election. Many Zimbabweans blame Mugabe for the devastation of the country's once robust economy. Zimbabwe currently has an annual inflation rate of more than 150,000 percent.
An Argentine couple was jailed for illegally adopting a baby girl born 30 years ago to parents who were kidnapped by the military government. The case was brought by the adopted woman, Maria Eugenia Sampallo, whose real parents were said to have been killed during the country's "Dirty War"--a military-orchestrated campaign of violence and disappearances beginning in 1976, with up to 30,000 victims. It is believed that some 500 children were given to families sympathetic to the military government during this period.
Joseph Kony, leader of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army, backed out of signing a long-awaited peace accord between the LRA and the Ugandan government on April 10. Ugandan officials, diplomats, observers and reporters spent a day in the bush waiting for Kony, only to be told that he wanted more clarifications before signing. During almost two decades of fighting between the LRA and government forces, the rebels have killed and mutilated countless numbers of civilians, abducted as many as 30,000 children and youth, and displaced up to 1.6 million civilians. In 2005, the International Criminal Court issued warrants for Kony and other LRA leaders. As a condition for a peace agreement, Kony has demanded that the warrants be quashed.
Chief UN war crimes prosecutor Serge Brammertz urged Serbia to improve its cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia during a two-day visit to Belgrade. Full cooperation with the ICTY is important for the tribunal's success, and is a key condition for Serbia's moves toward EU membership. The ICTY, located in The Hague, was established by the UN Security Council in May 1993 to try breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, genocide, and crimes against humanity committed in the former Yugoslavia since 1991.
A network of individuals was responsible for the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri in 2005 and was linked to other political murders in Lebanon, UN investigators said. Their findings were part of the latest report issued by a UN commission investigating Hariri's murder and related cases. Hariri and 22 other people died in a Beirut bomb blast on February 14, 2005. The assassination sparked massive demonstrations denouncing Syria's role in Lebanon. Syria withdrew its troops the following April, ending a 29-year military presence. In April 2005, the UN Security Council established a commission based in Lebanon to assist national authorities in their investigations. In June 2007, the council approved the creation of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
Burma's ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has included provisions in a draft constitution granting itself immunity for past and future human rights violations. Chapter XIV "Transitory Provisions," Article No. 445 of the draft, states, "No legal action shall be taken against those (either individuals or groups who are members of SLORC and SPDC) who officially carried out their duties according to their responsibilities." (The SPDC was formerly called the State Law and Order Restoration Council, or SLORC). The constitution's Chapter XI adds that anyone implementing official measures during a state of emergency shall not be subject to any legal action for "those legitimate measures." The country is set to vote on the constitution in a national referendum May 10.
On April 10, Nepal voted in historic elections for an assembly that is expected to re-write the constitution and abolish the monarchy. Officials say that polling, which was heavily monitored by the UN, was mostly peaceful given the current political conditions. With an estimated 60 percent turnout of voters, violence shut only 33 of the 21,000 polling booths. The election results, in which the Maoists have a significant lead, will determine the membership of a 601-seat member assembly that will both serve as the first parliament and write a new Constitution.
Justice remains elusive in Timor-Leste despite new efforts to address a 1999 campaign of terror and the 24 years of brutal occupation preceding it. Courts in Timor-Leste failed to win jurisdiction over high-ranking Indonesian officials, while prosecutions held in Indonesia produced few significant convictions. The Supreme Court freed the one person convicted and jailed. The Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation established in Timor-Leste to investigate human rights violations committed between 1974 and 1999, called for further prosecutions, but its call has so far been ignored. International observers, including the ICTJ, have criticized the Commission as seeming more concerned with "friendship" than with truth.
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