Report on Impunity Watch Panel Discussion

Transitional justice: are we ticking the boxes when we should be joining the dots?

Café Dudok, The Hague, 15 December 2009

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Report on Impunity Watch Expert Debate

1 July 2009, Amsterdam: Remembering the Srebrenica and Rwanda genocides: Do war memorials unite or divide?
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Dealing with Impunity in Serbia - Options and Obstacles

Now available in English, this document provides a summary of a research project conducted over the past two years in Serbia, examining the root causes and nature of impunity for crimes committed by the Serbian state and citizens during the wars of Yugoslavia's dissolution during the 1990s.
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Recognising the Past: Challenges in the Combat of Impunity in Guatemala

Now available in English, this document provides a summary of a research project conducted over the past two years in Guatemala, examining the root causes and nature of impunity for crimes committed during its long civil war.
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The Persistence of Truth

This report looks at progress in truth-seeking and the combat of impunity in Guatemala ten years after its UN-backed truth comission, the Commission for Historical Clarification (CEH), published its findings on the events of the internal armed confrontation of 1960-96.
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Impunity Watch Research Instrument

This Impunity Watch tool offers a basic framework for researching the state of accountability in post-conflict societies.
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NEWS ARCHIVE

Impunity Watch research presented in Guatemalan interior

08/12/2009 - During October and November 2009 Impunity Watch travelled to the six regions most affected by the internal armed conflict in Guatemala to present its report “Recognising the Past: Challenges in the Combat of Impunity in Guatemala”, containing the findings of its two-year investigation.

The presentations were well attended in every region by a range of civil society organisations, including grassroots victims' committees, local human rights groups, widows' associations, psycho-social support organisations and church networks. In the energetic discussions which followed each presentation, participants welcomed the integral approach taken by Impunity Watch in its research report to victims' rights, and the concrete data made available in the report. They also described the difficulties local organisations face in obtaining access to information, connecting with organisations in the capital and making their voices heard, and stressed the need to unify efforts around the country to gain greater recognition for victims.

Copies of a later Impunity Watch report, "The Persistence of Truth," which was published in February 2009 to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Historical Clarification Commission´s report, a UN-backed truth-seeking initiative, were also distributed, as were copies of two key draft laws currently before the Guatemalan Congress (Draft Law 3590 on the creation of a National Commission to Search for Victims of Forced Disappearance and Draft Law 3551, on the establishment of the National Reparations Programme).

Following each public presentation and discussion, bilateral meetings were held with local organisations. Through all of these meetings, it became clear that there is a need for more coordination of civil society organisations outside of the capital in order to voice their concerns and advocate for appropriate solutions among the country's decisionmakers. In this regard, Impunity Watch has initiated a nationwide lobbying network in which a range of organisations from different parts of the country are invited to participate. Activities planned for 2010 include the definition of a policy agenda and lobbying strategy, and targeted capacity-building.

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