WHAT: The 3rd Continental Transitional Justice Forum for all African Union (AU) Member States, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), African Regional Mechanisms (RMs), the Academia, Civil Society Organizations, Media and other TJ practitioners.
 
WHO: The Human Rights and Transitional Justice Unit (HRTJ) of the AU’s Department of Political Affairs (AU-DPA), in collaboration with the Center for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR), South Africa
 
WHEN:  24-26 September, 2019
 
WHERE:  The Headquarters, African Union, Addis Ababa - Ethiopia
 
TIME:  9:00 am
 
WHY: The Assembly of the African Union Member States adopted the AU Transitional Justice Policy (AUTJP) in February 2019. The instrument is aimed at providing a template on transitional justice for AU Member States emerging from violent conflict, war and repressive regimes. It is also meant to, among other things, support Member States to develop their own context specific and comprehensive national policies, strategies and programmes geared towards achieving democratic and socio-economic transformation, sustainable peace, justice, reconciliation, social cohesion and national healing.

Although, the AUTJP is closely linked to other international norms and standards on transitional justice, it however takes into account the nuances of various forms of human rights violations which are peculiar to the African context and proffers context- specific solutions to them by striking a balance between reparations and development, various understandings of democracy and controversial issues such as the granting of amnesty. The 2019 Forum will deliberate on effective implementation of the Policy in AU member States.

OBJECTIVE(S) OF WORKSHOP:
The overarching objective of the Forum is to deliberate on the following elements of the African Union Transitional Justice Policy, namely Peace Processes, Transitional Justice Commissions, African Traditional Justice Mechanisms, Reparations, Redistributive or Socio-economic Justice, Justice and accountability, Human and Peoples’ Rights, Reconciliation and Social Cohesion, Memorialization, Political and Institutional Reforms and Diversity management and to reflect on the state of transitional justice in Africa with the aim of achieving the following specific objectives:

• Provide a multi-stakeholder’s platform for identifying solutions to common and novel problems, and proffering solutions that are rooted in collective and national experiences;

• Share best practices, Africa’s success transitional justice experiences and generate new knowledge to advance a Pan-African transitional justice discourse and transform its practice;

• Facilitate ongoing interactions and collaborations between policy-makers at national, regional and continental levels, civil society, national governments, stake-holders (at implementation level), the academia, and transitional justice experts and practitioners to aid the effective implementation of the AUTJP in Africa;

• Generate ideas on how to implement the AUTJP and support ongoing transitional justice processes on the continent.
 
PARTICIPANTS:  
Participants for this forum will be drawn from Government officials working at the Ministries of Justice, Truth and Reconciliation Commissions, scholars, researchers, policy makers, representatives of the civil society organizations, and other interested experts working on transitional justice in Africa. Meanwhile, Journalists are invited to cover the event.      
                                                   
FOR MEDIA ENQUIRES, CONTACT:
Ms. Esther Azaa Tankou, Head of Information Division, +2519113611, e-mail yamboue@africaunion.org
                                                           
Mr.Stephen Kwaku Darko| Information and Communications Officer, Directorate of Information and Communication, African Union Commission | Tel: +251(0) 953406832 | E-mail: DarkoS@africa-union.org

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE PROGRAMME:
Mr. Ikubaje John G.
Senior Political Officer,
Human Rights and Transitional Justice Unit,
Department of Political Affairs, African Union Commission;
Email: GbodiJ@africa-union.org