RIGHT TO TRUTH, REPARATION AND INSTITUTIONAL REFORM: WHAT PROGRESS AND WHAT PROSPECTS FOR TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE? - INTERNATIONAL MEETING

The National Human Rights Council (CNDH), in partnership with Driss Benzekri Foundation for Human Rights and Democracy and the CDG Foundation, organizes an international meeting on “Right to truth, reparation and institutional reform: What progress and what prospects for transitional justice?” on January 14 – 15, 2013 at the headquarters of the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco in Rabat.

Seven years after publishing the final report of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER), this meeting seeks to review the progress made in implementing the IER recommendations, followed up by the Advisory Council on Human Rights and then, as from March 2011, the National Human Rights Council.

After the end of the IER mandate, other transitional justice experiences have been implemented, like in Brazil and Togo. In this regard, this event will be an opportunity to take stock of the progress achieved worldwide in transitional justice and identify lessons learned and best practices.

At a time when several countries in the Arab region are going through similar experiences, the meeting will enable participants to examine the prospects for this new phase in transitional justice at the international level. This event will bring together politicians, civil society activists and experts from Morocco and other 18 countries (United States, France, Switzerland, Argentina, Peru, South Africa, Senegal, Mali, Togo, Ghana, Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Algeria, Libya, Jordan, Palestine and Lebanon).

It will see the participation of a host of international personalities, particularly Ms. Tawakkul Karman, Yemeni Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Mr. Mohammed Ahmed al-Mikhlafi, Yemeni Minister of Legal Affairs, Mr. Pablo de Greiff, UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non- recurrence, Mr. Michel Tubiana, president of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network Rights, Mr. Sidiki Kaba, honorary president of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and Mr. Mokhtar Trifi, honorary president of the Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights.

Participants also include representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (Geneva), the International Center for Transitional Justice (New York), the United Nations Development Programme, the UN Women, and the European Union in addition to many nongovernmental organizations.

The two-day meeting will discuss several transitional justice-related topics, including the mandate of truth commissions (creation, temporal and specific jurisdiction, powers, types of violations processed, core activities, etc.), implementation strategies for truth and justice (judicial and extrajudicial procedures, working techniques for hearings, testimonies and archives consultation, role of victims and NGOs and their relations with truth commissions, etc.). The participants will also examine the issue of individual and community reparation policies, and the outcome of recommendations (types of recommendations, monitoring mechanisms, effectiveness of implementation, etc.). Crosscutting debates will focus on the issue of reconciliation (especially the role of hearings), gender dimension, and the degree of integration and interaction at the national, regional and international levels.