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ICTJ World ReportMay 2015

In Focus

As Tunisia Prepares to HearNation’s Truth, New AlliancesAmplify Women’s Voices

As Tunisia’s Truth and DignityCommission (TDC) prepares to hear the testimonies ofthousands of citizens, ICTJ is assisting women’s groups inensuring that their voices are heard in the process.

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AFRICA

In April, the Supreme Court of Uganda ruled that the trial of Thomas Kwoyelo must resume before theInternational Crimes Division (ICD) of the High Court of Uganda. A UN report on the country releasedin May accused the Ugandan-based Allied Democratic Forces of committing systematic graveviolations over a three-month period at the end of 2014 in north-east DRC which may amount to warcrimes and crimes against humanity. The Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC plans to investigate theallegations of hate speech which may have resulted in recent xenophobic violence againstimmigrants in South Africa. Meanwhile, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Trust Fund forVictims (TFV) now has six months to submit a draft plan for implementing reparations in the Lubangacase. In April, the DRC’s Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, with the cooperation of the HighCouncil of Magistrates, launched the first “États généraux de justice” conference since 1996, bringingtogether all high judicial and governmental authorities alongside representatives of the internationalcommunity to evaluate the judicial system and propose reforms. In Mali, Tuareg-led rebels signed apreliminary peace agreement with the government as a gesture of good faith to end decades ofseparatist fighting. In Sudan, Omar al-Bashir was re-elected while the country’s main oppositionparties chose to boycott the elections. Protests in Burundi continued following President PierreKurunziza’s plan to run for a third term. In early May, a group of 700 Kenyan refugees who fled duringthe height of the 2007-08 post-election violence returned home after living in a camp in WesternUganda. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon congratulated the people of the Central African Republicon the adoption of a peace pact. Also in the CAR, more than 300 child soldiers were set free byarmed groups as part of a United Nations brokered deal.

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AMERICAS

The Colombian government and FARC guerrilla resumed the 36th cycle of the peace talks, focusingon the issue of victims of the conflict. Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos confirmed that hehad authorized the travel to Cuba of the military heads of the country's largest guerrilla armies,

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Timochenko of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and Gabino of the NationalLiberation Army (ELN), with the aim to end to the decades-long armed conflict in the country. Afternearly three months of deliberation, President Otto Perez Molina of Guatemala announced that he willextend the mandate of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) for anadditional two-year period. Several days after national prosecutors and the CICIG dramaticallyarrested 22 alleged conspirators in a customs tax scheme, political fallout in Guatemala ensuedleading to resignation of the country’s Vice President. Public anger coalesced through socialnetworks and thousands of Guatemalans rallied in Guatemala City’s main square. Peru reopened acriminal investigation against ex-President Alberto Fujimori on charges he and three of his formeraides led a 1990s government program that forcibly sterilized thousands of poor indigenous womento reduce the country’s birth rate. According to a new report by a group of dissident healthprofessionals and human rights activists, the American Psychological Association secretlycollaborated with the Bush administration to bolster a legal and ethical justification for the torture ofprisoners swept up in the post-9/11 War on Terror.

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ASIA

In Nepal, five major donor countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Switzerland and the UnitedKingdom) decided to withdraw their support from the Nepal Peace Trust Fund, leaving USAID and theEuropean Union as its only major funders. Following the devastating earthquake in Nepal, The UNestimated that eight million people—more than a quarter of the population—have been affected,putting the country on “war footing” according to Prime Minister Sushil Koirala. In the Philippines,President Aquino’s allies in the House of Representatives recently rushed to come up with a draft ofthe Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) that satisfies the peace agreement and addresses any remainingconstitutional issues in advance of a planned vote by the House ad-hoc committee on the BBL. SriLanka’s Justice Minister Wijedasa Rajapakshe announced that interim provisions under the 19thAmendment will allow for the continued function of independent commissions such as the HumanRights Commission, the Public Service Commission and the Commission to Investigate Allegations

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of Bribery or Corruption.

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EUROPE

In April, Bosnia’s State Investigation and Protection Agency on Tuesday arrested seven peoplesuspected of having committed war crimes against civilians and prisoners of war in the Buzim areain 1994 and 1995. Also in the country, Jean-Eric Paquet, the European Commission’s WesternBalkans director, reminded authorities that Brussels has repeatedly warned that financial assistancefor war crimes prosecutions will be stopped unless a justice sector reform strategy is adopted. Inlate April, the military court in Arnhem ruled that Thomas Karremans, the commander of the DutchUN battalion, his assistant Robert Franken and officer Berend Oosterveen cannot be heldresponsible for not safeguarding Bosniak civilians who took refuge at their headquarters which wassupposed to protected by the UN, but instead handing them over to Bosnian Serb forces. Tensionssurfaced in Armenia as Turkey made the decision to advance its Gallipoli commemorations to thesame day of the centenary of the Armenian genocide. In Northern Ireland, Amnesty Internationalwarned that the planned repeal by the UK government of the Human Rights Act 1998 has thepotential to undermine the peace process. During a judicial review into the British government’sdecision not to hold a public inquiry into the murder of human rights lawyer Pat Finucane, the Belfasthigh court was told that the killing was part of British state policy to infiltrate, manipulate and directterror groups during the Troubles.

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MENA

A court in Egypt sentenced former President Mohanmed Morsi and 12 other defendants to 20 yearsin prison in April. Morsi was convicted for ordering the arrest and torture of protesters in clashesoutside the presidential palace in December 2012 that killed 10 people. Also in the region, the

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outside the presidential palace in December 2012 that killed 10 people. Also in the region, theCommission for International Justice and Accountability produced enough evidence to indict Syria’sPresident Bashar al-Assad and 24 senior members of his regime for their roles in suppressingprotests which led to the 2011 conflict. Many of the tens of thousands arrested were tortured andkilled, according to the findings of an international investigative commission. In other news, the ICCwarned Israel that the court may launch a full investigation without its input if it does not cooperatewith an initial investigation into possible breaches of international law in the occupied Palestinianterritories. In April, policymakers in Lebanon marked the 40th anniversary of the civil war with apledge of “never again,” while multiple commemorative events were held throughout the country. TheCommittee of the Families of the Kidnapped and Disappeared, along with It is Our Right to Knoworganized the most significant campaign which lasted for 40 days to call attention to the 17,000disappeared. At the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in May, Progressive Party Chief Walid Jumblatttestified that the Assad regime was responsible for the death of his father, Kamal Jumblatt, and thatthe Syrian officials involved in Hariri’s assassination had all been “eliminated.”

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Publications

The Disappeared and Invisible: Revealing the EnduringImpact of Enforced Disappearance on Women

This briefing paper is the summary of “The Disappeared andthe Invisible: Revealing the Enduring Impact of EnforcedDisappearances on Women,” a comprehensive study by ICTJthat identifies the impacts and government responses toenforced disappearances as they relate to women in 31countries. It answers two key questions: 1) How Do EnforcedDisappearances Impact Women?

Upcoming Events

May 24 - 28, 2015

ICTJ Course onTransitional Justicefor GovernmentOfficials & Staff ofInternationalInstitutionsLocation: The Hague

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Living with the Shadows of the Past: The Impact ofDisappearance on Wives of the Missing in Lebanon

This report examines the impact on women of enforceddisappearances committed during Lebanon’s civil war, focusingin particular on the effects on wives of the missing ordisappeared—and their children. The research is based oninterviews conducted by ICTJ with 23 wives of missing ordisappeared persons of varying backgrounds.

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June 22 - 27, 2015

Georg ArnholdSummer School onTransitional Justiceand EducationLocation: Braunschweig,Germany

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