Reparations constitutes a critical dimension of transitional justice, the one that focuses most specifically on the recognition of victims' rights and the harms they suffer. The ICTJ's work on reparations policy and implementation wrestles with the difficult question of how the right to reparations can be meaningful and effective in practice through approaches that repair harm and ensure respect for rights and human dignity. Differences in country contexts, institutional frameworks, and the availability of resources require a nuanced approach and call for varied policy options.

The issue of reparations often emerges as a demand in post-dictatorship and post-conflict societies, but it also surfaces in the context of unresolved historic injustices, in negotiations to settle armed conflicts, and in judicial settings. Yet the challenges are similar across these different contexts: defining concepts and objectives clearly; addressing financial questions; responding fairly to massive numbers of victims and a range of violations; attending to gender and other disparities; and reinforcing victims' dignity by relating reparations to truth-seeking, accountability, and reform, as well as to national agendas for social change that will advance victims' rights and prevent further abuses.

The ICTJ's groundbreaking studies on reparations programs and critical issues in this field, coupled with in-depth country work on reparations policy and implementation, are helping to develop this important aspect of transitional justice. Through an experienced reparations team and consultants, the ICTJ provides technical assistance and policy input to its regional and country experts and to partners in countries where reparations are on the transitional justice agenda. It continues to develop reparations programs and advance research on reparations in specific countries and on cross-cutting issues. The ICTJ's Reparations Unit is also building networks of reparations practitioners with diverse expertise and experience across regions and disciplines.

Reparations Research and Publications

The ICTJ's Research Unit has published two volumes on reparations. The Handbook of Reparations, edited by Research Director Pablo de Greiff and published in May 2006, presents in-depth case studies and discussion of key themes. In December 2006 the ICTJ released What Happened to the Women? Gender and Reparations for Human Rights Violations. Edited by Ruth Rubio Marín, this volume explores policies in Guatemala, Peru, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, and Timor-Leste. Thematic studies on gender and reparations are under way.

The Research Unit collaborated with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to develop a "tool document" on reparations that was launched in Bogotá in early 2008. Through targeted studies the Research Unit is also exploring connections between reparations and disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration; transitional justice and development; and transitional justice and identity.

The ICTJ's program work in Peru led to publications on a number of topics, including parameters for reparations design (2002); the purpose and characteristics of a National Victim Registry (2004); and the reparations process in Peru (2006). In 2004 the Research Unit and the Prosecutions Unit (De Greiff and Senior Associate Marieke Wierda) produced a paper, "Reparations and the International Criminal Court: A Prospective Role for the Trust Fund for Victims." And in 2007 the ICTJ launched its "Reparative Justice Series" with a general paper, "Reparations in Theory and Practice," followed by "Reparation and the Darfur Peace Process: Ensuring Victims' Rights." Forthcoming publications in 2008 include papers updating reparations in Peru, financing reparations, and victim participation in reparations processes.

Assisting Local Actors

Through its country work the ICTJ has assisted local actors in framing reparations questions appropriate to their situation while sharing relevant information and analysis on prior and contemporary experiences in reparations design, implementation, and cross-cutting themes. In several regions the ICTJ Reparations Unit has worked closely with victims' groups and nongovernmental institutions involved in reparations advocacy and has provided technical assistance and comparative analysis to state institutions, the UN, and international and hybrid human rights courts involved in reparations policy-making and implementation.

In Latin America the ICTJ has worked in Peru, Chile, Colombia, and Guatemala. In Peru the ICTJ advised the TRC, human rights organizations, and victims' groups on drafts and facilitated communications about policy options and demands. The ICTJ assisted these groups through consultants, our Lima-based associate, and staff in developing strategies for policy design and implementation. Once legislation passed in 2005 the ICTJ continued to work toward implementation with local actors. Since late 2006 it has provided technical assistance to the National Reparations Council, including a workshop to exchange experiences on implementing reparations with practitioners from Guatemala, Argentina, and Chile. The ICTJ is also working with local human rights NGOs to monitor independently the implementation of collective reparations.

In Colombia-where the demand for reparation has arisen in connection with the Justice and Peace Law intended to facilitate the demobilization of paramilitary groups-the ICTJ has organized a variety of activities including workshops on reparations with legislators, government officials, victims' groups, and NGO representatives. In 2006 the ICTJ provided technical assistance to the National Commission on Reparations and Reconciliation.

The ICTJ continues to assess and develop policy advice on reparations in the complex context of ongoing conflict. In December 2007 the ICTJ participated in a conference in Chile that focused on that nation's public health program for victims and their family members (PRAIS, Programa de Atención Integral en Salud), and it continues to explore the provision of health services as reparations.

The implementation of reparations recommendations by the truth commissions of South Africa, Ghana, and Sierra Leone continues to be an issue. In October 2007 the ICTJ, the West Africa Civil Society Institute, and the Center for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation organized a working group meeting in Accra, Ghana, among victims' groups, reparation advocates, and representatives of state institutions implementing reparation policy, along with representatives from Liberia, whose truth commission is charged with formulating recommendations on reparations. The important insights gleaned from the meeting included the need for more exchanges of this type and the importance of ensuring that reparations implementation remains on the transitional justice agenda after a truth commission concludes its mandate.

The ICTJ held similar regional exchanges of experience and insights in Asia and the Middle East. In July 2007 in Amman, Jordan, the ICTJ's Reparations Unit and Middle East/North Africa Unit, in coordination with the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), held a workshop on the goals and challenges of reparation as a transitional justice measure in Iraq. The workshop featured an exchange of experiences among Iraqi and Kurdish policymakers and resource persons from Morocco's Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER) and other international and ICTJ experts. The IER's experience has been of particular interest, given its plan for individual and community-based reparations that include health care, community projects, commemoration, and compensation, along with other measures. Likewise, the IER's approach to gender and reparations is a highlight of its reparations program.

In August 2007 the Reparations Unit and the ICTJ offices in Indonesia and Timor-Leste organized workshops in Jakarta and Dili. The ICTJ also met with victims' groups in the Philippines. In Europe the ICTJ participated in a conference on reparations in December 2007. Organized by the Humanitarian Law Center in Belgrade, Serbia, the meeting was attended by more than 100 victims' groups, advocates, and civil society organizations from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, and Kosovo.

Working with International and Hybrid Courts

The ICTJ has been engaged in helping to define the parameters and address the challenges of dealing with massive reparations claims in the context of human rights and war crimes litigation. In 2006 and 2007 the ICTJ provided comparative information to key actors on the development of regulations for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia for the Prosecution of Crimes Committed during the Period of Democratic Kampuchea (ECCC). In February 2008 ICTJ staff from the Reparations and Prosecutions Units held a seminar in Phnom Penh for ECCC judges to explore the court's mandate to award "collective and moral reparations" and conducted a workshop with Cambodian civil society representatives on reparations for victims of the Khmer Rouge regime. Similarly, the Center has participated in discussions about how the International Criminal Court should deal with assistance to victims and provide reparations through its Victims' Trust Fund.

Making Knowledge about Reparations Accessible

The ICTJ has made a particular effort to provide information in a range of languages about reparation experiences in different parts of the world and analysis of cross-cutting issues. Documents that summarize the experience of various reparations programs or provide an overview of reparations theory and practice have been translated into several languages besides English, including French, Spanish, Arabic, Serb, Turkish, and Bahasa Indonesia.

(Updated March 2008)