Meaningful victim participation

Women viewing We Search for Truth, a collaborative mural created by Martin Travers and women affected by enforced disappearance in Bardiya, Nepal. | PHOTO © Martin Travers

A new report analyses the strategies of victims’ organisations to elevate their agency in political negotiation processes.

Transformative transitional justice has consistently advocated for meaningful victim and survivor participation in transitional justice processes. Evidently, reports of Truth Commissions, public acknowledgement, reparation schemes or verdicts are important results of transitional justice institutions that can lay the ground for further political and societal transformation. Agency and meaningful participation of victims and survivors in the set-up and implementation of transitional justice institutions not only transform victims and their role in society, but increase the legitimacy of transitional justice institutions. What strategies do victim groups develop to leverage their agency in decision making processes? What are the success factors, and what challenges are they facing?

The newest research, published by Impunity Watch within the framework of the Global Learning Hub for Transitional Justice and Reconciliation analyses strategies of victim and survivor organisations to influence and gain access to political negotiation and decision-making processes. Drawing on experiences from Colombia, The Gambia, Germany, Nepal and Syria, the report identifies enabling factors and stumbling blocks for meaningful participation and outlines recommendations

There is no blueprint for successful victim participation

The report starts with defining the conceptual framework of meaningful victim participation. While much research focuses on implementing transitional justice processes, this report broadens the perspective by shedding light on participation throughout all phases of these processes. It thereby stresses that victim participation must not be viewed merely as a procedural issue. Instead, it can play a substantive role in restoring societal relationships between victims and those holding power.

Successful participation strategies always depend on the context and may involve either formal or informal approaches to securing a place at the table. While there is no blueprint, this report provides an overview of strategies and participation practices in different countries. It identifies the overarching factors and approaches that allow effective and meaningful participation, concluding with a set of proven strategies.

The report emphasises the importance of utilising different participation strategies at the distinct stages of transitional justice process. They can include coalition and network building, advocacy work with local and national government, raising public awareness through education or narrative storytelling, comprehensive media engagement combining printed and virtual media and resorting to regional and international human rights mechanisms. There is no single strategy that can serve as a panacea. Rather, it is the combination of different approaches that elevates the transformative effect of meaningful victim participation.

While the report highlights successful participation strategies, it does not lose sight of the challenges involved. Exemplary, it describes the difficulties in identifying commonalities and unifying goals among victims’ groups, whose experiences can vary greatly. Given the diversity of victims’ groups affected in many contexts, the report reveals that marginalised groups and those with fewer resources face greater challenges in accessing participation opportunities. Likewise, restricted access to resources and limited time available for transitional justice mechanisms present additional challenges to the meaningful and successful involvement of victims' groups.

Lessons for future transitional justice processes

Drawing on a range of experiences, the report concludes with key lessons for ensuring the meaningful participation of victims in future transitional justice processes. It emphasises the importance of creativity and perseverance among victims’ groups and associations, as well as the need for advance planning to identify entry points for participation and ways to overcome participation barriers. Civil society actors play a particularly important role in supporting these efforts. The report concludes that meaningful participation within formal frameworks can only be successful if there is a certain level of basic trust in existing mechanisms, and confidence that they will be implemented reliably. Where such trust does not yet exist, informal or victim-led approaches can pave the way for more formal mechanisms in the future.

The new report reiterates that the meaningful participation of victims and survivor groups is essential for more effective and legitimate transitional justice processes. Therefore, ensuring and strengthening such participation should be a priority for states and transitional justice mechanisms.