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Victims, civil society advocates, policymakers, and development partners recently met for a high-level policy roundtable on integrating mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) in Ethiopia’s transitional justice process. Organized by ICTJ and the Advocacy Center for Democracy and Development, the convening offered a space for participants to discuss the need for MHPSS and how to improve access to it across the country.

On February 19, 2026, Venezuela’s National Assembly passed the Amnesty Law for Democratic Coexistence, which seeks to extinguish criminal liability for certain acts committed in the country over the past 26 years. While the law has sparked debate, it undeniably represents a significant development in the country's political landscape.

On July 28, 2025, the Somali Regional State Council passed a resolution designating April 6 as Victims’ Memorial Day, formally recognizing those who experienced violence and human rights violations across Ethiopia’s Somali Region. For years, victims and civil society actors, with support from ICTJ and other international partners, have persistently advocated for this acknowledgment, which marks a milestone in Ethiopia’s journey toward accountability and repair.

In the wake of the recent contentious presidential elections, Venezuelans from all walks of life took to the streets to express their collective distrust of the official results, outrage over their country's dire economic and political crisis, and demand for transformative change. For a brief moment, their sheer numbers and the of unity of their voices gave hope that a window of opportunity had opened for real change. In countries grappling with massive human rights violations, from time to time, a window of opportunity does in fact open for society to come together and a forge path toward peace and justice. Unfortunately, such windows do not remain open indefinitely.

Throughout 2023, ICTJ’s experts have offered their unique perspective on breaking news around the globe as part of the World Report. Their insightful commentaries have brought into focus the impact these events have on victims of human right violations as well as larger struggles for peace and justice. In this edition, we look back on the past year through the Expert’s Choice column.

ICTJ and the Consortium of Ethiopian Human Rights Organizations cohosted a national event to increase victims’ and civil society’s meaningful participation in Ethiopia’s transitional justice process. The event brought together Ethiopian government officials and policymakers, civil society representatives, members of the media, and international stakeholders to discuss strategies to ensure victims and gender-related concerns remain at the center of the efforts underway in the country to deal with recent and past violence and its consequences.

More than 20 years after the end of the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s, Kosovo is still contending with unresolved ethnic tensions. Formerly an autonomous region of Serbia within the former Yugoslavia, Kosovo declared independence in 2008. Ethnic tensions were a root cause of the violent conflicts, during which an estimated 140,000 died and numerous atrocities were committed. ICTJ recently sat down with ICTJ's Anna Myriam Roccatello and Kelli Muddell to learn more about ICTJ's work and the present challenges to truth and justice in the country.

The photography exhibition “All Our Tears” weaves together the stories of victims from the wars in the Western Balkan region in the 1990s. It consists of photographs taken by four photographers in various locations in Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia, and was part of a three-year project funded by the European Union that brought together civil society organizations and victims’ groups in Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia, along with the international organizations ICTJ and PAX to develop meaningful, victim-led peacebuilding and reconciliation initiatives in the region.

The end of 2022 in Venezuela was marked by signs of willingness from all parties to take concrete steps toward democracy. The government and the opposition resumed negotiations and agreed to allow the United Nations to manage a fund for billions of dollars of frozen assets, which would be gradually released to address the country’s humanitarian crisis. The United States authorized the Chevron Corporation to resume limited operations for importing Venezuelan oil. Finally, the 2015 National Assembly voted to end the opposition-led interim government. While these steps are initial ones to create the conditions for trust among the parties, they offer opportunities to improve the dire circumstances in which many Venezuelans currently live.