Reflections on Litigating Transitional Justice Issues

Litigation plays an important role in dealing with the legacy of gross human rights violations – whether it be seeking reparations for torture victims at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, suing multinational corporations that profited from apartheid in US courts, or challenging transitional justice mechanisms in Colombia’s Constitutional Court. However, the results of such litigation are, at best, mixed. At times, it advances human rights protection for individual victims but puts at stake the whole architecture of transitional justice processes. At other occasions, it fails to achieve any tangible outcomes at the expense of victims’ quest for justice and reparation. In a small minority of cases, litigation succeeds in producing lasting changes not only for victims but also for societies moving away from the legacy of mass atrocities. This panel aims to explore the impact of litigation on transitional justice and the impact of transitional justice on litigation from different perspectives, including when it is part and parcel of TJ accountability mechanisms and when it is not.

Speakers:

Alejandro Jimenez Ospina is coordinator of the litigation team at the Centre for the Study of Law, Justice and Society (Dejusticia), a Colombia based NGO and think tank that promotes human rights and the rule of law in Colombia and the Global South through research-action methodologies.

Alejandro has a degree in law, a post-graduate specialization in constitutional law and a masters degree in Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law, and has taught at different Colombian universities including Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Universidad de los Andes y Universidad del Rosario. The focus of his research has been transitional justice, constitutional law, accountability of economic actors for human rights violations and litigation as a tool for social change.

Dr. Carla Ferstman is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Law and Human Rights Centre. She brings 25 years of experience in the practice of human rights, with NGOs, intergovernmental organizations and in private practice. For more details on her background see:  https://bit.ly/30LjGwK

Prof. Clara Sandovalis professor at the School of Law and Human Rights Centre. She specialises on Transitional Justice and the Inter-American System of Human Rights, often linking the two. She will reflect on her and others work litigating reparation cases of victims of mass attrocities before the IASHR.

Prof. Sabine Michalowski is professor of law at the University of Essex and co-director of the Essex Transitional Justice Network (ETJN). One of her main research topics is that of how to achieve accountability of economic actors as part of transitional justice processes, over recent years with a particular focus on the Colombian peace process and the work of the Colombian Special Jurisdiction for Peace.