NCJ Number
222919
Date Published
2008
Length
50 pages
Annotation
This report second in a series of transitional justice tools for post-conflict states, is intended as a practical guide to assist with implementing effective reparations (compensation) programs, and discusses the context of reparations, challenges faced by reparations programs and the role of the international community.
Abstract
This practical tool provides guidance on implementing reparations (compensation) initiatives. It does not focus on redressing single or isolated human rights violations, but on how to establish (out-of-court) reparation programs to help redress cases of gross and serious violations of human rights. In such situations, large numbers of victims deserve and call for reparations. This report stresses the importance of designing and implementing reparations programs in close association with other justice initiatives and with participation of various stakeholders, and offers observations based on experience in the hope that it will stimulate local deliberations about the shape that reparations should take into account. Some of the relevant international law instruments on reparations are reviewed against the background of the Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law. It raises some of the most difficult challenges that reparations programs have faced across the world. Establishing a reparations program requires mobilizing large public resources and this is always at least in part a political struggle. Most countries have domestic legislation that could be used in favor of reparations. But, reparation is not a legal issue alone. In addition to legal obligations, it is important to clarify the moral reasons for reparation, to address the political concerns, and to be aware of the cultural aspects.