PUBLICATION | 7 Mar 2025
Mainstreaming participation in transitional justice
A new research report from the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation
A new research report from CSVR examines what participation looks like and provides actionable recommendations for enabling participation in a more meaningful way.
Statements on the need for popular participation are increasingly common in international and national transitional justice policy and literature, yet little guidance is available on how to put participation into practice. Based on empirical research in The Gambia and Somalia and with multilateral actors supporting transitional justice in Africa, this research report examines what participation looks like and provides actionable recommendations for enabling participation in a more meaningful way. The findings show that meaningful participation requires four main commitments on the part of multilateral, state and civil society actors: 1) mainstreaming, 2) localisation, 3) decentralisation, and 4) recognition of non-formal measures. Participatory transitional justice results in more inclusive, contextualised and effective processes, with broad-based buy-in for sustainable outcomes.
Read the full research report here. The report is part of a larger research project which includes a guidance paper for multilateral actors and reports on Somalia and The Gambia.