The transformative potential of transitional justice

The conference took place in April 2023 in Berlin | PHOTO © KONSTANTIN BÖRNER

Our international conference brought civil society representatives, academics and policy-makers into a dialogue on how to deal with legacies of violence.

How can coming to terms with the past contribute to a transformation of the root causes of conflicts? What strategies can young people, victims of violence and marginalised groups pursue to make their voices heard? Which ideas, experiences and concrete solutions point the way to a more just and peaceful future?

Our conference “Agency – Power – Space: Exploring the transformative potential of transitional justice”, which was co-organised by all partner organisations, sought to provide answers to these questions. To facilitate mutual learning, participants came from over 20 countries and from all continents. They included artists from Burundi, advisors to the Colombian truth commission, activists from Syria, Bosnia, Indonesia, Georgia and Morocco, as well as representatives from German memorial sites and educational institutions.

Workshops on guarantees of non-recurrence, feminist perspectives, youth and "unpopular" victims provided space for practitioners and policy makers to exchange experiences and ideas. Despite the specificity of each local context, a common finding was that what strongly influences the success of transitional justice processes is to what extent diverse groups people, particularly survivors of violence, are involved in their design and implementation.

In a dialogue between practitioners and policy-makers that concluded the conference, we discussed how such a people-centred approach to transitional justice can be realised. To learn more about the topics discussed in the workshops, you can listen to Voices for Transitional Justice, our new podcast special.