A/HRC/RES/51/23
Recalling the report of the Secretary-General on the rule of law and transitional justice
in conflict and post-conflict societies3 and his follow-up report on the same topic,4 including
the relevant recommendations contained therein, and his reports issued in 2006,5 2012,6 20137
and 20148 outlining a programme of action to enhance the effectiveness of the support
provided by the United Nations system for the promotion of the rule of law in conflict and
post-conflict situations,
Recalling also the guidance note of the Secretary-General on the United Nations
approach to transitional justice of 19 April 2010, and noting that it is currently being revised
to address the contemporary challenges of transitional justice,
Recalling further General Assembly resolution 70/1 of 25 September 2015 entitled
“Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, including its
goals and targets, inter alia Sustainable Development Goal 16, on promoting peaceful and
inclusive societies for sustainable development, providing access to justice for all and
building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels, and recognizing that
transitional justice can contribute to this Goal, inter alia through its objectives of combating
impunity, granting access to justice and transforming conflict,
Recalling General Assembly resolution 70/262 of 27 April 2016 on the review of the
United Nations peacebuilding architecture, and Security Council resolution 2282 (2016) of
27 April 2016, in which the Assembly and the Council recognized that development, peace
and security, and human rights are interlinked and mutually reinforcing and, inter alia,
stressed that a comprehensive approach to transitional justice, including promotion of healing
and reconciliation, a professional, accountable and effective security sector, including
through its reform, and inclusive and effective demobilization, disarmament and
reintegration programmes, including the transition from demobilization and disarmament to
reintegration, are critical to the consolidation of peace and stability, promoting poverty
reduction, the rule of law, access to justice and good governance, further extending legitimate
State authority, and preventing countries from lapsing or relapsing into conflict,
Recalling also the report of the Secretary-General on peacebuilding and sustaining
peace9 describing the restructuring of the peace and security pillar of the United Nations,
management reform and the reinvigorated resident coordinators system,
Taking note of the United Nations-World Bank group study Pathways for Peace:
Inclusive Approaches to Preventing Violent Conflict of 13 April 2018 and of such initiatives
as the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies,
Affirming that impunity for gross violations and abuses of human rights and serious
violations of international humanitarian law, including genocide, war crimes, ethnic
cleansing and crimes against humanity, encourages their recurrence and is a fundamental
obstacle to sustainable peace at the national level, and also to the furtherance of cooperation
among peoples and the promotion of international peace and security,
Acknowledging that the fight against impunity and the implementation of transitional
justice processes, including the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of nonrecurrence, can prevent the recurrence of past atrocities, genocide, war crimes, ethnic
cleansing and crimes against humanity, or similar violations and contribute to sustainable
peace and development,
Underlining the fact that, when designing and implementing strategies, policies and
measures to address gross violations and abuses of human rights and serious violations of
international humanitarian law, including genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes
against humanity, the specific context of each situation must be taken into account with a
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
2
S/2004/616.
S/2011/634.
A/61/636-S/2006/980 and Corr.1.
A/66/749.
S/2013/341.
A/68/213/Add.1 and A/69/181.
A/72/707–S/2018/43.