Transitional justice in weakly institutionalized post-conflict settings: report

Summary

In this report, the Special Rapporteur lists the main activities that he conducted between October 2016 and July 2017. He also addresses the issue of transitional justice in weakly institutionalized post-conflict settings, which vary significantly from the post-authoritarian context in which the model of transitional justice originally took shape.

Noting the urgency of improving the effectiveness of transitional justice in these new contexts of application, the Special Rapporteur argues that, in these cases, transitional justice must include a significant dimension of institution-building. Because building institutions is a long-term process, however, he also emphasizes the importance of steps to increase the responsiveness of transitional justice measures. He insists on the importance of responses that are suited to context and to well-defined ends.

In the report, the Special Rapporteur refers to improvements in witness protection, prioritization strategies and measures to strengthen civil society as initiatives that would indicate responsiveness and yet offer the possibility of sustained action in the areas of truth, justice, reparation and non-recurrence.