ICTJ and UNICEF’s Research Reveals Essential Links Between Education and Transitional Justice
While some have called attention to the need for a more systematic consideration of the relationship between
education and transitional justice, to date neither education reform nor the teaching of the recent past has been treated with the seriousness it deserves.
In response, ICTJ and UNICEF collaborated on a research project to explore the following two questions:
- How can transitional justice contribute to peacebuilding goals by shaping the reform of education systems and facilitating the reintegration of children and youth into those systems?
- How can education serve to promote the goals of transitional justice by expanding its outreach agenda and helping change a culture of impunity into one of respect for human rights and the democratic rule of law?
The aim of this report is to provide practitioners and policy makers in both transitional justice and education with conceptual clarity and practical guidance for developing synergies between their respective fields in responding to past human rights violations.
Drawing from a comparative approach that examines different experiences throughout the world, this report does not offer a blueprint for addressing past injustices through education, but, rather, considerations that should be taken into account when framing policy that is based on the particularities of a given context.
The report looks at how a transitional justice framework can play an important role in identifying educational
deficits related to the logic of past conflict and repression and informing the reconstruction of the education sector. It also looks at how formal and informal education can facilitate and sustain the work of transitional justice measures.
The report concludes putting a strong emphasis that a context specific approach to addressing the past through education can make a valuable contribution to peacebuilding.
To download the full report: Education and Transitional Justice: Opportunities and Challenges for Peacebuilding
For more information and additional resources related to this report, visit:
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