Roots in transitional justice
Since the early days, Impunity Watch approached transitional justice through a victim-centered lens. We also focus on addressing the root causes of impunity.
Transitional justice seeks to help societies deal with legacies of large-scale violence and human rights abuses. However, the approach has been criticised for not being sufficiently victim-centered, or taking into account the social, political and economic causes of impunity.
Our mission is to address this gap by creating spaces for victims, survivors and communities to shape justice. We stress the need to overcome impunity and its root causes to achieve transformative justice.
Early work in Guatemala
The concept of victim-centered justice was at the core of our early work in Guatemala. Our engagement began in response to calls from victims in their struggle for redress following the internal armed conflict (1960-1996). In 2005, we set up our country office.
Today, we continue to strengthen the demands of Guatemala’s victims, especially women and indigenous people.
We do so through alliance building, providing legal, technical and policy support, and creating spaces for the voices of victims to be taken into account on the national, regional and international levels. This includes supporting independent justice as a key factor for addressing impunity.
Western Balkans
The war in the former Yugoslavia (1991-2001) was a painful reminder that ethnic nationalism continues to pose a threat in Europe.
After an exploration mission, we started a country programme in Serbia to deal with legacies of the conflict, including entrenched victim identities along ethnic lines.
The lessons from this early period strengthened our focus on working with victims, and not speaking on their behalf. We also learned the importance of broadening networks of victim groups and adopting a regional approach to fighting impunity.
Our country office in Serbia closed in 2010, but we continue to work closely with local civil society.
Find out more about our work in the Western Balkans.
Our work in the region included political analysis, and supporting civil society to influence regional policy frameworks at the EU and Council of Europe.
Today, we engage by connecting the fight against impunity to preventing future conflict, in close partnership with local civil society.
Impunity Watch becomes an independent organisation
We formally register as a foundation in the Netherlands.
Monitoring impunity: Tracking transitional justice progress
Impunity Watch develops an internationally recognised research instrument to monitor impunity and track progress on transitional justice, following outbreaks of atrocities worldwide.
The instrument highlights the root causes and societal factors of impunity to understand progress and setbacks in transitional justice implementation.
The process exposes gaps in victim participation–we noticed that victim organisations often sought to provide their input on transitional justice processes, but were sidelined.
The instrument has been an important lobbying tool to shape new transitional justice policy in The Netherlands and our engagement with international policymakers, including at the UN.
It’s still cited today in different contexts, by civil society, UN and academics/ practitioners to monitor impunity. The instrument is also the basis for our ongoing monitoring of impunity in Guatemala.
Burundi
Dealing with a violent past requires the meaningful participation of affected communities in transitional justice processes.
As Burundi recovers from decades of violence (especially the aftermath of the 1993–2005 civil war), we begin our work in 2010 and open an office in Bujumbura in 2011.
In a challenging political context, transitional justice efforts have greater impact at the community level. Supporting and encouraging community-based initiatives is thus key to our work.
Find out more about our work in Burundi.
Focusing on the community level, we seek innovative engagement of victims in transitional justice, especially youth, women and girls. We bring together young people and elders for constructive intergenerational dialogue about the past, and support individual and collective trauma healing–including through arts and culture.
We have also lobbied at the national level for victim-centred TJ mechanisms, in particular during the establishment and operation of two Truth and Reconciliation Commissions.
Memorialisation: Comparative research and convening dialogue
Memorialisation is an important component of transformative justice. By confronting cultures of silence around the past, memory initiatives can transform cycles of violence and impunity.
Our comparative research in Burundi, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia, South Africa and Guatemala contributed to important discussions on the role of memorialisation. This continues to shape our work on memorialisation around the world.
The comparative research was later presented in 2012 at the Breaking the Silence: International Memory Initiatives Exchange Forum in Cambodia.
Building on this, we developed eight guiding principles for memorialisation from our comparative research and the exchange forum in 2014. These guiding principles were also validated in an expert session with the ICC/ ICTY. The guiding principles aim to inform decision making in countries emerging from violent conflict.
In 2015, we held an Asia Exchange ‘Memory for Change’ conference, hosting participants (civil society organisations, victim groups, and international organisations) from Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. The main focus of the Exchange was on the potential offered by bottom-up memorialisation initiatives in contributing to transitional justice processes, especially where criminal justice is still not available to victims.
Burundi, DRC, and wider Great Lakes
Transitional justice is incomplete without uniting civil society and victim groups around common agendas.
Our work in the Great Lakes of Africa begins in partnership with other international NGOs such as Oxfam and CARE international. It aims to address the causes and consequences of conflict with a regional lens and specific focus on Burundi, The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Rwanda.
Today in the DRC, we strengthen the political influence of civil society and victim groups at the local, national, and regional levels. We have played a central role in furthering policy discussions around transitional justice and victim participation, specifically in North and South Kivu (eastern DRC).
Tunisia
Following the Arab Spring and the revolution of 2011, Tunisia initiated a transitional justice process to deal with legacies of systemic human rights violations and deep-rooted corruption.
However, the process has faced major hurdles and remains incomplete.
In Tunisia, Impunity Watch analyses the transitional justice process and strengthens the participation of victims and diverse communities, as informed by civil society-led research.
This includes engaging marginalised groups, such as women and young people in the process, and working on memory preservation.
Research: Victim participation in formal mechanisms (Phase 1): ‘Real power or empty ritual?’
To deepen our understanding of the root causes and consequences of impunity, we conduct a large-scale comparative research project across Burundi, Cambodia, Guatemala, Honduras, Kenya and Tunisia.
The results provide a better understanding of how victim participation must be adapted to different contexts, emphasise the need to mobilise groups of victims for victim participation to be effective, and help put the issue on the international policymaking agenda for the first time.
The language from our research is directly adopted by decision makers, including the (former) UN Special Rapporteur for Truth Justice Reparation and Non Recurrence, Pablo de Greiff in multiple reports.
Advocating for transformative justice
Impunity Watch steps up its voice and advocacy for a transformative approach to transitional justice by publishing a major critical review of the state of the field.
We further develop a manual which is a practical guide to politically informed transitional justice. The manual is used by policymakers, including at the various Dutch embassies and at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The study is authored by Vasuki Nesiah (who currently serves on our Board), and produced with the support of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
We continue to lead on advocating for a transformative approach to transitional justice, including tackling root causes of impunity, and the importance of victim participation, and dealing with the obstacles – including at the UN level.
Expanding our work
Impunity Watch seeks to expand its reach and nurture victim solidarity across more diverse contexts.
A strategic partnership with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs enables us to launch new programmes in Iraq, Syria, South Sudan, and continue our work in Burundi, the DRC, Guatemala, and the Western Balkans (Kosovo).
The partnership enabled us to engage with victims and survivors in these new contexts. It also helped Impunity Watch guide the MFA’s policy regarding the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region; transitional justice policy; and the adoption of victim-centred approaches.
Gender-transformative justice
Gender and women’s participation is a growing focus in transitional justice processes. Yet, not much has been done to address the patriarchal norms that fuel injustice, and sideline women and marginalised groups.
Between 2006-2010, with support from the Dutch MFA, we deepen our work on gender and transformative justice in Burundi and Guatemala. This includes zooming in on the role of militarised masculinities in cycles of violence.
Building on our early gender work, this shapes our future strategy on gender-transformative justice.
Syria
Impunity Watch connects different groups of victims seeking to strengthen their collective voice and demands.
In response to horrific atrocities committed in Syria, we start to provide strategic and technical support to a number of Syrian victims’ groups in their search for truth and justice.
We connect Syrian civil society to the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) to investigate and prosecute serious crimes in Syria. This results in the Lausanne Platform – convened by the Netherlands and Switzerland – which fosters collaboration between IIIM leadership and Syrian civil society, including victim groups.
In parallel, we support victims to organise and influence international policy, including through the Truth and Justice Charter, launched in 2021.
Find out more about our work in Syria.
Following the Truth and Justice Charter launch, the group, with support from Impunity Watch, release the Humans not Numbers study addressing the problem of the disappeared in Syria. The group used the study to call for the creation of a mechanism to address the crisis of the missing in Syria.
In 2022, the Charter expands to include five new organisations.
Iraq
We expand our work in the Middle East and delve deeper into how structural impunity hinders victim rights from being fulfilled.
We begin our work to address the cycles of violence in Iraq. This involves extending direct support to a diverse range of victims of gross human rights violations.
Together with victims, we mobilise collective action and facilitate policy exchanges on several issues, including on reparations for victims of killings and injuries, as well as the missing and disappeared.
We do so through memorialisation work, research, awareness raising, and capacity-building, campaigning, and engagement with policymakers.
INOVAS: Building global solidarity
“Together, we’re producing a new culture for human rights work.” – Wadad Halawani, President of the Board, INOVAS
Our research and programmatic work have shown that by acting together, victims can be powerful agents for change.
Informed by our advocacy strategy, Impunity Watch helps launch The International Network of Victims and Survivors of Serious Human Rights Abuses (INOVAS). The aim: to connect victims and survivors around the world, and help them put forward a unified voice. Find out more.
In November 2022, INOVAS and Impunity Watch release a report calling for direct, continuous and long-term engagement between the international community and victims on reparations. We also produce a video asking INOVAS founding members about the importance of reparations for grassroots communities.
Along with members of INOVAS, we presented our report and video in New York, to EU and UN staff and diplomats. Participants were especially interested in hearing the grassroots experiences with reparations, or the lack thereof. This report continues to drive our policy work on reparations.
Expansion of work with the African Union
“When we include everyone in transitional justice, the path becomes shorter.” —Clément Niyukuri, SPDH Burundi
The development of a transitional justice policy by the African Union (AU) was a momentous step to end violent conflict on the continent.
The challenge has been to include different groups in the process, such as young people, who play a crucial role in breaking intergenerational cycles of violence.
We aim to increase youth engagement in transitional justice policies of the AU and help put issues that concern them on the agenda. We do this with our regional partners, including the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR). Find out more.
Impunity Watch and CSVR have conducted research in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mali, and South Sudan on three key subjects: youth participation, violent masculinities, and mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS). Read more.
Historic verdict in the Maya Achi indigenous women’s case in Guatemala
“This guilty verdict dignifies the strength and courage that these women had in breaking the silence.” – Haydeé Valey, Mayan indigenous legal representative
After seeking justice for over 10 years, on 24 January 2022, Guatemala’s highest court sentences five former paramilitaries to 30 years in prison for sexual violence committed against 36 Maya Achi Indigenous women in the 1980s.
The case, led by the survivors and supported by Impunity Watch, sends a powerful signal that justice is possible, even decades on.
It shows the importance of strategic litigation–a comprehensive approach to justice that seeks to address the root causes of violence.
Spearheaded by indigenous women, it also supports Impunity Watch’s vision for gender-transformative justice.
Research: Victim participation in informal processes (Phase 2): ‘Promoting access to justice through victim participation’
Following our Phase 1 research, Impunity Watch deepens engagement and partnership with local organisations by conducting a broad multi-year comparative research project in six countries: Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Syria, Tunisia and Guatemala.
This research demonstrates the value of connecting victims and strengthening activism through a grassroots approach.
Its findings contribute to our policy work, including advocating for victim participation and stressing the importance of collective action to make justice possible.
Stay tuned for the comparative report coming soon!
Syria’s victims mark historic UN resolution on the missing
“We have waited for this moment for so long.” – Mariam Alhallak, Caesar Families Association
On 29 June 2023, the UN General Assembly passes a resolution to establish a new independent institution to clarify the fate and whereabouts of the missing in Syria. The resolution is the result of years of advocacy by victim associations as part of the Truth and Justice Charter group, supported by Impunity Watch.
The international institution brings hope for dealing with cases of missing persons in Syria, and is an inspiration to addressing similar situations globally.
UNSG Guidance note on transitional justice
The UN Secretary General adopts his ‘Guidance Note on transitional justice: A strategic tool for people, prevention and peace’, following a two-year consultation process.
Impunity Watch contributes substantially to developing the Guidance Note. It aims to ensure that victims are involved in shaping transitional justice processes from the start, so that transitional justice measures have a positive impact on their lives.
The guidance note also highlights our report on reparations with INOVAS as “essential reading”. It is a focus at the 22nd session of the Assembly Of State Parties (International Criminal Court) in New York in December 2023.
Celebrating 15 years of fighting impunity
“At Impunity Watch, it’s crucial for us to listen to victims and understand what their definition of justice is. Victims and survivors inspire us and give us the drive to go on.” —Marlies Stappers, Executive Director
As part of our 15-year anniversary celebrations, we host a discussion on the power of art, culture and creativity in harnessing victim-led justice and its crucial role in fighting impunity – an inspiring event that is livestreamed globally.
We also spoke to our partners about what fighting impunity means to them.
What’s next?
We’ll continue to put victim voices first, grow our networks and coalitions, and seek to tackle the root causes of violence.