The African Transitional Justice
Research Coalition

The African Transitional Justice Research Coalition (ATJRC) is an interdisciplinary network of African scholars and senior practitioners focused on transitional justice across the continent. Our coalition embraces a multi-generational approach, bringing together those who shaped the early days of transitional justice in the 2000s and a new generation eager for innovative solutions.

We pride ourselves on our diverse mix of practitioners and scholars. This rich blend allows us to draw from a wide range of experiences and insights and our members come from a range of backgrounds including human rights law, development and history.

What makes the ATJRC unique?

What sets the ATJRC apart is our commitment to engaged scholarship and practice. We actively encourage practitioners from the continent to share their experiences through reflective writing and our spotlight interviews.

To support this, we have established three research hubs:

Confronting Impunity and Democratic Backsliding
This hub focuses on the persistence of impunity for human rights violations in a number of African contexts. It examines why accountability processes have often failed to produce sustained change, despite formal commitments to justice.
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Memory Politics and Education
This hub examines how societies engage with past violence and how these processes shape current debates on justice and accountability. It focuses on the politics of memory, including whose histories are recognised, whose are excluded, and how these choices are reflected in public narratives, heritage sites and archives.
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Gender Justice
This hub focuses on the gendered nature of violence and the ways in which conflict and political instability affect women in Africa. It addresses gendered violence in both conflict and post conflict contexts, as well as the structural inequalities that shape access to justice.
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Each hub is dedicated to exploring creative solutions to combat impunity in Africa based on lived realities of transitional justice on the continent.

We also take a proactive stance on topical and emerging issues. For example, we are examining the priority areas for the establishment of the Liberian Court for War and Economic Crimes as well as looking at calls to include gender apartheid as a specific crime in the developing UN Crimes Against Humanity Treaty from African perspectives. In March 2026, we will launch three policy briefs addressing these critical topics.

Our diverse membership includes representatives from organizations such as the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR), Human Rights Watch, and the Foundation for Human Rights, as well as up-and-coming African scholars. This collaboration enriches our work and ensures it is informed by a broad spectrum of perspectives.

What are the goals of the ATJRC?

The goals of the African ATJRC are to:

Promote Engaged Scholarship

We actively foster collaboration between practitioners and scholars to share experiences and insights on transitional justice in Africa.

Facilitate Multi-Generational Dialogue:

We bring together diverse voices, including those from the early days of transitional justice and newer generations, to discuss innovative justice solutions.

Address Emerging Issues:

We seek to tackle current and critical topics by drawing on African perspectives and experience.

Establish Thematic Hubs:

We have focused areas of research and reflection – Gender Justice, Memory and Education, and Confronting Impunity and Democratic Backsliding – to develop solutions for combating impunity on the continent.