Justice for Victims in Transitional Societies

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Justice Visions

How do societies seek to come to terms with legacies of large-scale abuses in order to ensure accountability, serve justice and achieve reconciliation? And what role can victims play in this process? These are crucial questions for scholars and practitioners of transitional justice (TJ).

TJ practitioners and scholars alike have increasingly been turning to victim-centric, participatory approaches to increase the legitimacy and “efficacy” of TJ processes.

By giving victims centre stage, stakeholders hope to better address victims’ needs, enhance local ownership and transform victims into agents of change who can carry forth processes of justice seeking after international actors leave.

But what do we really know about how to best organize this victim participation, or what its long-term effects are?

This website brings you the results of, amongst other things, an ERC-funded research project (VictPart 804154) that examines this question.

Latest News

Kick off Rights2LIFE: Towards a Responsive Criminal Justice System in the Philippines Posted in post, on Oct 18, 2022

Rights2LIFE: Towards a Responsive Criminal Justice System in the Philippines is a capacity-building and research project between Ghent University and the University of Cordilleras in Luzon, the Philippines. The Filipino nation currently faces worsening disregard for the rule of law and disrespect for human rights, as evident in glaring extra-judicial killings, illegal arrests and detentions, etc. […]

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Sangeetha Yogendran, together with Youth for Peace Cambodia, present submission to the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia Posted in post, on Nov 16, 2021

In October 2021, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia issued a Call for Contributions from relevant stakeholders with respect to the ECCC’s Residual Functions Related to Victims. The Call for Contributions asked for the provision of “… explanations for and recommendations on possible undertakings appropriate to and meaningful for victims encompassed in the jurisdiction […]

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Marit de Haan participated in a master class about transitional justice at Universidad de Valparaíso, Chile Posted in post, on Oct 20, 2021

Justice Visions colleague Marit de Haan participated in a class about transitional justice at the School of Psychology of the Universidad de Valparaíso, Chile on Friday the 15th of October 2021. During the class with bachelor students of the course ‘Psychology and Human Rights’ she presented her project about the victims of the Chilean military […]

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New publication by Elke Evrard, Gretel Mejía Bonifazi and Tine Destrooper in the International Journal of Transitional Justice Posted in post, on Aug 9, 2021

Much has been written about the potential of participatory approaches to entrench and expand transitional justice processes. Yet, evidence-based research on how to understand, organize and evaluate victim participation has lagged behind. Empirical research, moreover, often lacks an explicit conceptualization of participation or adopts existing models that start from an institutional perspective and that normatively […]

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New publication by Marit de Haan & Tine Destrooper in the International Journal of Restorative Justice Posted in post, on Mar 17, 2021

‘Using restorative justice to rethink the temporality of transition in Chile’ Questions about when transitions are over prompted the writing of this article. The Chilean transition towards democracy seems to be characterized by ongoing dynamics, illustrated by a recent protest movement, a push to reform the constitution and continuous truth and justice efforts. How can […]

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