Implementing reparations

The implementation of reparation decisions for survivors is often hindered by political, legal, and material barriers, creating a gap between awarded reparations and their effective delivery. Survivor-centred legal and advocacy strategies are essential to overcoming these challenges. 

REDRESS collaborates with national partners worldwide to ensure survivors of torture receive their entitled reparation, including justice, rehabilitation, restitution, compensation, and guarantees of non-repetition. 

Through our work, we develop and implement legal and advocacy strategies, support national partners, and strengthen the global community of practice on reparations to ensure sustainable progress. Currently, we are focusing on two key areas to advance the implementation of reparation for survivors, support strategic litigation, and promote a community of practice for the implementation of decisions. 

Strategic Litigation

Through our holistic strategic litigation and survivor–centred approaches, we promote the execution of remedies and delivery of reparation by using different tactics, including legal tools, advocacy and communication campaigns, and promoting social mobilisation. Those cases include Azul Rojas Marin in Peru,  Amin Mekki Medani and Farouq Abu Eissa in Sudan, and the case of Dominic Ongwen in Uganda. 

Implementing reparation decisions for CRSV survivors 

Through our holistic strategic litigation and survivor-centred approaches, we promote the enforcement of remedies and the delivery of reparation, particularly for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV). This project examines the key obstacles CRSV survivors face in accessing justice and obtaining effective reparation while also highlighting good practices that can help overcome these challenges. 

Some of the cases include Abaïfouta and others in Chad , Purna Maya v. Nepal, COVAW et. Al in Kenya, S.A. v. DRC, and SI v. Sudan, among others.

REDRESS has used litigation workshops as a key tool to develop strategies for implementing decisions. Bringing together survivors, civil society organisations, donors, public authorities, and social leaders, these roundtables have been instrumental in designing strategies and campaigns to advance reparation. They serve as a crucial starting point for building coalitions and coordinating efforts to ensure the effective implementation of decisions. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As part of this project, REDRESS has published a report titled Realising Reparation for Survivors of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence. The report highlights the main obstacles faced by survivors of CRSV in implementing decisions and highlights good comparative practices from emblematic cases where reparations have been effectively delivered. It emphasises a holistic, strategic litigation approach and a survivor-centred perspective as fundamental pillars for promoting the implementation of decisions. We also published a briefing, Realising Reparation for Survivors of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence: Key Insights, which shares key insights from the initiative and complements a fuller report that examines obstacles to implementation and highlights adaptable tools and techniques from 11 cases.

Promoting a reparation community of practice

REDRESS has produced a series of practice notes on strategic litigation against torture and training modules to support human rights lawyers and activists around the world to bring legal challenges against torture and obtain reparation for survivors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our practice notes cover key topics such as Holistic Strategic Litigation against Torture, Implementation of Decisions, Evaluating the Impact of Strategic Litigation against Torture, Reparation for survivors of torture, Compensation, Survivors Centred Approach to seeking reparation, and Building a reparation complaint.  

We are also holding consultations with international experts, NGOs, and practitioners to identify good practices for reparation in torture cases, which will inform several litigation workshops where we will work with national partners to develop individual cases to improve the practice of making reparation effective. 

As part of this objective of sharing information on the implementation of reparation, REDRESS is developing a newsletter focused on the main advances on reparation, including comparative experience in executing reparation decisions. For more information, see Just Reparation Newsletter. 

Our impact 
  • We have strengthened coalitions for delivering reparation in Kenya and Nepal by co-creating implementation plans with diverse stakeholders. 
  • We have provided comprehensive support to survivors in Chad, DRC, Kenya, Nepal, Peru, and Sudan. This includes medical and psychosocial assistance, advocacy training for reparation, and support for participation in communication campaigns, among other initiatives. 
  • We have amplified survivors’ voices and facilitated the participation of national organisations in high-level national and regional discussions to advance the implementation of specific cases. 
  • Additionally, we have gathered and documented good practices for reparation, producing practice notes to share with partners. We have also prepared a report on key obstacles to implementing decisions in cases of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) and explored how holistic strategic litigation can serve as a tool to overcome these challenges. 
  • We have promoted a community of practice on implementation by the exchange of information and experiences with practitioners, social leaders, survivors, civil society organisations, academics, and others.  
Our Partners 

For the delivery of those projects, REDRESS has worked closely with national partners whose expertise has been crucial for the design and execution of strategies. Those organisations include: 

  • Chad – Association tchadienne pour la promotion et la défense des droits de l’Homme  
  • DRC – Synergie pour l’Assistance Judiciaire aux victimes de violations des droits humains au Nord Kivu  
  • Kenya – Utu Wetu, IMLU, ICJ Kenya, PHR, COVAW, Grace Agenda Wangu Kanja, Survivors Network, ICTJ Kenya 
  • Nepal – CVWN, Advocacy Forum, HRJC, ICJ Nepal, Nagarik Aawaz 
  • Peru –  Promsex 

If you are interested in discussing these projects, please contact our Legal Advisor Renata Politi at [email protected], our Legal Officer Alejandro Rodriguez at [email protected] and Senior Legal Advisor Julie Bardeche at [email protected].

We are very grateful to the Global Survivors Fund and Wellspring Philanthropic Fund for their generous funding, which helps us to undertake this work.