PUBLICATIONS
Impunity Watch Research Instrument
20/12/2008 - This Impunity Watch tool offers a basic framework for researching the state of accountability in post-conflict societies.The instrument was created by IW staff, with valuable assistance from selected experts and practitioners. It covers six broad research areas, where we expect to find the main obstacles to post-conflict accountability:
- normative framework
- resources and capacities of pertinent state institutions
- independence of these institutions and their willingness to fulfil their tasks
- influence of interest groups
- political will
- societal factors
Our enquiry addresses all four pillars of transitional justice: truth, justice, reparations and guarantees of non-recurrence. When designing this tool, we were also guided by a number of essential UN documents, which offer a framework for a structural approach to reducing conflict-related impunity. Among these, by far the most important was the updated UN Principles on Protection and Promotion of Human Rights through Actions to Combat Impunity.
The instrument has so far been implemented in Guatemala and in Serbia, where it was adjusted to meet the countries' specific circumstances. To read the resulting reports, visit our Publications page.