Urgent Need for Victim-Centred Transitional Justice Reforms and Revised Rules of War

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BRIEFING NOTE

TO: International Justice Actors, Policymakers, and Human Rights Organizations

FROM: Project Lead, ABC Tamil Oli (ECOSOC)

SUBJECT: Urgent Need for Victim-Centred Transitional Justice Reforms and Revised Rules of War

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1. PURPOSE

This briefing note informs relevant international actors of the core objectives and preliminary critical findings of a comprehensive research project investigating the experiences of 20th and 21st-century war victims. It highlights urgent policy recommendations for reforming accountability mechanisms and international humanitarian law to better protect and provide justice for civilians.

2. SUMMARY (BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT)

Despite decades of international efforts, existing transitional justice and accountability mechanisms are failing a vast number of war victims, who remain without reparations, recognition, or legal redress. As of March 2026, the number of new war victims is rising rapidly, demonstrating a global failure in conflict response. This project’s analysis, which includes cases from Sri Lanka, Rwanda, the Balkans, and others, concludes that immediate, fundamental reforms are required. International justice actors must prioritize two areas: ensuring meaningful and accessible justice, reparations, and recovery for all victims; and rewriting the rules of war to make the robust protection of civilian lives the foremost priority in all international laws and policies.

3. BACKGROUND: THE RESEARCH PROJECT

This study investigates the distinct experiences of civilian and combatant victims across major 20th and 21st-century conflicts. It aims to evaluate the effectiveness of various accountability mechanisms—including truth commissions, reparations programs, and domestic/international tribunals—in delivering justice and preventing the recurrence of atrocities.

Key conflict cases include:

●       World War II

●       Decolonization conflicts

●       The Balkans

●       Rwanda

●       Selected Latin American and Asian cases, with a specific focus on Sri Lankan war victims.

Methodology: The project employs a rigorous mixed-methods design to provide a comprehensive, comparative analysis.

●       Archival Research: Systematic collection of data from survivor organizations, national archives, and international tribunals.

●       Quantitative Casualty and Displacement Synthesis: Building an annotated database of quantitative data on casualties and reparations programs to measure scale and impact.

●       Legal Analysis: Critical evaluation of the design and effectiveness of existing institutional legal frameworks.

●       Survivor Oral Histories: Prioritizing the voices of victims, with all research adhering to trauma-informed ethical protocols and institutional review board (IRB) standards.

4. CURRENT STATUS & PRELIMINARY CRITICAL FINDINGS

The research strongly indicates that current international criminal justice mechanisms, as well as frameworks under Human Rights (HR) and International Humanitarian Law (IHL), are insufficient for creating a fair world or preventing future conflicts. The global landscape, as of March 2026, shows a distressing trend of rapidly increasing victim numbers.

Based on a comparative analysis of institutional designs and political conditions, the project identifies two critical, non-negotiable priorities for the international community:

1.     Accessible and Meaningful Justice: International actors must move beyond symbolic gestures to ensure that victims of past and ongoing conflicts receive comprehensive reparations, official recognition, and accessible legal redress. Justice mechanisms must be redesigned to be truly victim-centered, actively addressing suffering and supporting long-term recovery.

2.     Rewriting the Rules of War: The regulations governing warfare are no longer fit for purpose. They must be fundamentally re-examined and rewritten to guarantee robust, effective protections for civilians. Safeguarding the lives of non-combatants must be elevated to the absolute foremost priority, ensuring that every international law and policy is designed to prevent harm to civilian populations.

5. KEY CONSIDERATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

●       Persistent Failure: The inability of current frameworks to deliver justice to existing victims, while new victim numbers rise, represents a profound and persistent failure of the global human rights architecture.

●       Recurrence and Accountability: Meaningful accountability is not just a moral imperative for past victims; it is a critical requirement for preventing recurrence. Institutional designs that fail to deliver accountability contribute to cycles of violence.

●       Policy Misalignment: Current international policies and laws are not effectively aligned with the core priority of civilian protection, necessitating a fundamental rewrite rather than minor adjustments.

6. PLANNED DELIVERABLES

To support these urgent policy shifts, the project will produce the following deliverables:

1.     An annotated database of casualties and reparations programs.

2.     Five comparative case-study monographs.

3.     A detailed policy brief tailored for international justice actors, providing concrete recommendations for victim-centered transitional justice frameworks.

7. CONCLUSION / RECOMMENDATION

The findings of this comprehensive study, backed by rigorous research and survivor oral histories, provide an undeniable evidence base for urgent reform. International justice actors, policymakers, and organizations must acknowledge the current systemic failures and commit to a victim-centered approach.

It is recommended that international justice actors:

●       Prioritize the immediate development and implementation of comprehensive reparation and redress programs for all war victims, including those from long-standing conflicts.

●       Initiate an international process to re-examine and rewrite the rules of war, with the explicit and supreme goal of ensuring robust and unconditional protection for civilian lives.

By implementing these urgent reforms, the international community can begin to build a genuinely just and peaceful world, where accountability is enforced and the safety of all civilians is guaranteed.

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Disclaimer & Editor's Note: This briefing note represents findings and recommendations from an ongoing independent research project. The content and conclusions are those of the research team and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any partnering organization, national archive, or international tribunal.

Download the full report: The Arch of Accountability: A Comprehensive Analysis of Victim Experiencesand Justice Frameworks in 20th Century Conflicts

     In solidarity,

     Wimal Navaratnam

     Human Rights Defender |Independent Researcher | ABC Tamil Oli (ECOSOC)

      Email: tamilolicanada@gmail.com