Publications

Women and girls victims of human rights violations continue to face numerous challenges in accessing justice. REDRESS and the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn for Africa (SIHA) recently made a submission to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to draw attention to the many barriers faced by women, including the impact of customary systems of law. The expert body on women’s human rights is drafting a general recommendation on the topic, and our submission will be considered as part of that process.

Torture often targets the vulnerable in society, and in many circumstances migrants fall under that category. REDRESS and the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) have made a submission to the Committee on Migrant Workers on the rights of migrant workers and their families in irregular situations. The submission highlights the particular vulnerability of migrant workers to torture and ill-treatment, both at the hands of their employers and the state, and brings attention to states' obligations to provide redress to victims of torture and ill-treatment.  

A look back on REDRESS' 20-year history with a detailed timeline on key cases, special events and publications.

This discussion paper was submitted by IBUKA and it’s 15 member organisations, the Survivors Fund (SURF) and REDRESS to the government of Rwanda in October 2012 to help progress discussions on reparation (in particular in the form of rehabilitation,  restitution and compensation) for survivors of the Rwandan genocide survivor organisations and other stakeholders. It is based on a series of interviews carried out for five years with survivors, Rwandan government officials and representatives of national and international human rights organisations on the issue of reparation as well as workshops and seminars. It also examines reparation mechanisms established elsewhere in the aftermath of conflict and/or in response to systematic human rights abuses, focusing in particular on South Africa, Sierra Leone and Morocco.

The purpose of this report is to explore the challenges that witnesses face in giving testimony about crimes committed during the Rwandan genocide and to assess the strength of the various processes and mechanisms established to ensure their protection. Through examining some of their experiences and the challenges they encountered, this report seeks to identify patterns and trends that underline the need for reform in the area of victim and witness protection. The basis of this report is an analysis of relevant Rwandan and ICTR legal documents, and individual interviews and focus groups conducted in March and April 2012 with sixty Rwandan prosecution and defense witnesses, Rwandan government officials, Rwandan and ICTR judicial personnel, as well as civil society actors and previous fieldwork conducted by REDRESS and other researchers.