While the importance of dealing with the past in transitional justice processes is widely acknowledged, youth perspectives are often underrepresented in both policy discussions and implementation.
Five youth-led policy briefs exploring how the past echoes in the present, with social, institutional, and identity effects reverberating through generations and affecting youth on the African continent. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for addressing the root causes of impunity effectively, towards meaningful and sustainable systemic change.
The series offers recommendations aimed at governments, transitional justice institutions, and international partners to ensure that such conversations about the ongoing legacy of the past in Africa are not only backward-looking but also forward-building – anchored in the voices, leadership, and vision of its youth.
“We are carrying wounds that are not from our own time, but they decide the kind of life we live. Reparations must see us as people inheriting both the harm and the right to repair.”
7 November 2025
1 October 2025
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The AY4TJ Platform is a pan-African network of youth working on transitional justice. It was established by the African Union in 2024 to address the persistent marginalisation of young people in TJ processes. Bringing together youth leaders and practitioners from across Africa, the AY4TJ serves as a collective voice and hub for youth engagement, capacity-building, and advocacy in advancing the African Union Transitional Justice Policy (AUTJP). The network aims to amplify youth perspectives in national and continental TJ, foster peer learning, and strengthen collaboration between young people, civil society, and policymakers. With representatives drawn from each African region, the AY4TJ reflects the diversity and dynamism of the continent’s youth and their central role in shaping just, inclusive, and peaceful societies.
Impunity Watch is a strategic partner of the AY4TJ. Together, we support, strengthen, and amplify youth participation in transitional justice processes and policy development across the continent and at the African Union level. This collaboration on the ‘Legacy’ policy brief series is especially timely considering the AU’s theme of 2025 is “Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Through Reparations”, serving as a call to action for historical redress and contemporary development.
