Policy Paper

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C4JR Open Letter to UN Special Adviser on Genocide Prevention

C4JR Open Letter to UN Special Adviser on Genocide Prevention highlights importance of reparations for atrocity crimes against civilians committed by ISIL/Da’esh ahead of International Day to Commemorate Victims of Genocide.

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Glossary

• Transitional justice – processes and mechanisms implemented by societies to come to terms with a legacy of massive human rights abuses. These include criminal accountability enforced by courts, truth-seeking efforts taken by non-judicial bodies, reparations and reform of laws and institutions.
• Reparations – a range of material or symbolic measures and benefits granted to victims, either individually or as a group, with a principal aim to rectify past human rights abuses. Proper reparations should consist of a balanced mix of different forms of reparations such as restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition.
• Restitution – restoring the victim, as far as possible, to a position occupied before the human rights violation occurred. This might necessitate restoring public infrastructure, or making their neighbourhoods safe to live in.
• Compensation – Providing economic resources to victims for loss suffered, including physical/mental harm, material damages, and lost opportunities. This can be done through a one-off sum or a lifetime income.
• Rehabilitation – The process of restoring victims´ physical and mental health, and social standing by continually offering medical, psychological, legal, social and other services.
• Satisfaction – A range of non-monetary or symbolic measures specifically designed to afford satisfaction to the victims beyond financial compensation. Memorialization of atrocities, identifying the remains of deceased persons or recognizing events as international crimes are some of the possible measures.
• Guarantees of non-repetition – a set of broader, usually institutional, measures seeking to ensure that similar atrocities do not happen again. These are crucial to providing assurance to victims who may fear retaliation or future harm.
• Gross human rights violations – are particularly severe and widespread violations of basic human rights. In lack of an internationally recognized definition the following violations, as well as the violations of comparable gravity, shall be considered gross human rights violations:
  • Genocide;
  • Summary or arbitrary killing;
  • Enforced disappearances;
  • Slavery and the slave trade;
  • Prolonged and arbitrary detention;
  • Use of child soldiers;
  • Torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment;
  • Crimes against humanity (defined in the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court);
  • Apartheid and systematic racial and religious discrimination;
  • Conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) (rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity).
• Armed conflict – an armed confrontation between military forces of two or more states or between state forces and non-state armed groups or between such groups only of a certain intensity and level of organization.
• Victims – persons who individually or collectively suffered harm, including physical or mental injury, emotional suffering, economic loss or substantial impairment of their fundamental rights, including the immediate family or dependents of the direct victim.
• Three basic C4JR documents are position paper on reparations, founding charter and list of activities.

C4JR Survey

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Position paper on Reparations

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Founding Charter

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Plan of Activities

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Draft Law

Draft Law on reparations for survivors of conflict related sexual violence.