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Transitional justice blind spots

What is it all about?

When justice is muzzled in the face of serious crimes

In different parts of the world, situations of great violence sometimes look like a dead end for those seeking justice. These are the “blind spots” of transitional justice, where the geopolitical context blocks any real initiative to seek truth, reparation or retribution. They appear slowly or brutally on the world map. They are mainly linked to wars or to solidly authoritarian regimes. Some of these impasses are temporary; others are very long-lasting. In the absence of credible, official justice initiatives, it escapes the scope of Justice Info’s coverage. Yet it would be inexplicable to ignore them completely. This section offers insights into these blind spots.

Sexual violence in the Catholic Church in Africa. Photo: Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo celebrates mass in a church in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo).
Sexual violence in the Church: the African taboo
31 March 2025 by Clémentine Méténier
How can the taboo on sexual violence in the Catholic Church in Africa be broken? French priest and psychotherapist Stéphane Joulain, a member of the White Fathers, spoke to Justice Info about the “African silence”.
Gang stories - Photo: a member of the MS-13 gang behind bars in a prison in El Salvador Gang stories : another way of looking at violence
15 November 2024 by Dennis Rodgers
Gangs and gangsters fascinate. What’s particular about them is not the violence, which can be found in all quarters of our societies, but the way in which they represent it most vividly and, somehow, honestly. The GANGS project, d [...]
Gangs and transitional justice - Photo: Young people take part in a sports event in Marseille's northern suburbs, where violence is rife. Are gangs a topic for transitional justice?
14 November 2024 by Dennis Rodgers
Recognising that gangs are fundamentally embedded social phenomena, intimately linked to the urban fabric in which they operate, and that their violence intersects with other forms of social, structural, state or environmental bru [...]
Mafias, gangs, cartels: mass violence that escapes transitional justice. Illustration: 3 men in hooded sweatshirts are dressed like gang members. In the background, a map of the world. Mafias, gangs, cartels: mass violence that escapes transitional justice
19 September 2024 by Golnouche K. Barzegar
Almost 40% of homicides worldwide are linked to organised crime. According to the 2023 report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), between 2015 and 2021, organised crime caused around 700,000 deaths, a number c [...]
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Gender apartheid for women in Iran and women in Afghanistan - Photo: a woman wearing a hijab walks down a street, closely followed by a Taliban patrol.
20 June 2024 by Julia Crawford
Crimes against Afghan women drive push to recognize “gender apartheid” Richard Bennett, UN Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan, told the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday that violations against women and girls in that country were “so severe and extensive” that “they may amount to crimes against huma [...]
War in Yemen: justice at a standstill. Photo: Yemenis brandish weapons in support of Palestine.
28 March 2024 by Julia Crawford
Yemen: a decade of war with no sign of justice Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea, ostensibly to support Palestinians in Gaza, and retaliatory United States-United Kingdom airstrikes have reminded us in these last months of Yemen’s forgotten war. The conflict has been ongo [...]
Transitional justice in Ethiopia is flawed - Photo: a woman crosses a road seen from a military truck with a broken window, in the Tigray region.
19 October 2023 by Julia Crawford
Flawed transitional justice in Ethiopia The UN and NGOs say atrocities are continuing in Ethiopia, despite a peace agreement, and the government’s approach to transitional justice is flawed. But the latest session of the UN Human Rights Council ended last week without r [...]
Enforced disappearances in Turkey -
13 July 2023 by Guillaume Perrier
Enforced disappearances in Turkey continue under Erdogan May’s elections in Turkey have strengthened the hand of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been in power for 20 years and has just appointed his former security chief Hakan Fidan as foreign minister.  This has dashed human rights [...]
Refugees in Ethiopia
2 March 2023 by Julia Crawford
Ethiopia promises transitional justice once again Ethiopia signed a peace agreement in November. In January, the government published a draft document on “policy options” for transitional justice. In February, it moved to try and end a UN expert commission that has pointed to pos [...]
6 October 2022 by Maud Sarliève
Armenia/Azerbaijan: What alternative to the law of the strongest? In mid-September, hostilities resumed briefly between Armenia and Azerbaijan, two years after the deadly conflict of 2020. The Russian peace broker, in trouble in Ukraine, is weakened. And the law of the strongest is taking over t [...]
Computer's screen: pages of a report on human rights in China's Xinjiang region by OHCHR (United Nations Human Rights)
1 September 2022 by AFP
Five key allegations in the UN's Xinjiang report The report long-feared by China finally came out, minutes before UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet was due to leave on the evening of 31 August. Summary of the substance of the report, which alleges that Beij [...]
A group of people gather in the street, in Libya, in front of a poster showing 4 civilian victims of militias.
22 July 2022 by Julia Crawford
Justice in Libya: A road to hope or a road to nowhere? A UN Fact-Finding Mission recently published its third report unveiling more evidence of “crimes against humanity, war crimes, and gross human rights violations” in Libya, including against migrants. National authorities are suppo [...]
Two Yemeni children take the last bags of food from a truck as part of a feeding program.
7 July 2022 by Tom Dannenbaum, Alex De Waal and Daniel Maxwell
Starvation, a war crime never yet punished, in Ukraine and elsewhere Freeing Ukrainian wheat by facilitating its return to world markets is an urgent and timely imperative. But at the same time, warring parties around the world continue to use famine as a weapon, as old as war itself. The authors o [...]
Riders hold up the Ethiopian flag
18 November 2021 by Julia Crawford
War in Ethiopia: What chance of justice for serious crimes? A recent UN report said serious crimes had been committed in Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict by all sides, including neighbouring Eritrea which is allied with the government. It refers to potential war crimes and crimes against humanit [...]
Armenian protesters gather in 2018 in Yerevan, Armenia
29 June 2021 by Ruben Carranza and Maria Abrahamyan
Now is the time to make transitional justice possible in Armenia Unlike in Turkey and Azerbaijan where movements seeking justice and democratization are violently suppressed, Armenians carried out a peaceful revolution in 2018. After the last parliamentary elections on 21 June and the surprisin [...]
During a demonstration, a sign displays this text message:
26 March 2021 by Julia Crawford
Bachelet denounces continued inaction on Sri Lanka war crimes On Tuesday March 23, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a new resolution on Sri Lanka, including a new mandate and budget to collect evidence of war crimes. This followed a damning report to the Council by the High Co [...]
A veiled protester holds a sign that reads
22 March 2021 by Asymmetrical Haircuts
Is there a political will to prevent the Uyghurs from genocide? Uyghurs detained in Chinese camps are subjected to torture, forced labour and sterilization. This week, our partners from Asymmetrical Haircuts have invited two experts – Dr Melanie O’Brien from the University of Western Australia [...]
Parliament building in Kathmandu (Nepal)
16 March 2021 by Julia Crawford
Is there still hope for Nepal’s flawed transitional justice process? In some six years, the results of Nepal’s two transitional justice bodies are slim. With former combatants from both sides still in positions of power, critics denounce a lack of political will to deal with the legacy of the count [...]
Alleged Uighur camp in China
15 January 2021 by Suzanne Adner
China’s Uighurs and the long march of justice On December 14, 2020, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court declared inadmissible or insufficient the request for an investigation filed by organizations of the Muslim minority Uighurs. They accuse the Chinese governm [...]
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