Transitional Justice after war and dictatorship 

The Ceges/Soma and the Department of Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will cooperate in an ambitious international project: Transitional Justice after war and dictatorship. Learning from European experiences (1945-2000). Together with the renowned sociologist Luc Huyse, who initiated the project, the Ceges/Soma provides the logistical and scholarly coordination. In 2012, a European workshop (12-13 January) and an international symposium (May) will be organised of which the proceedings will be collected in a final report.

After 1945, Europe accumulated a lot of practical experience and knowledge on judicial processes in the transition to a post-conflict society. Thirteen experts are writing a paper on this subject for nine European countries/cases. These papers will serve as a basis for their research results which they will discuss during a closed workshop (12 and 13 January 2012). Possible recommendations from this European model will be presented at a public symposium in the Brussels Egmont Palace on 23 and 24 May 2012, where experts from Africa, Asia and Latin America will compare and contrast experiences from their countries with the European conclusions. All of this will result in a final report, distributed in four languages.

Scene during the Nuremberg trial (20 November 1945 - 1 October 1946), where the 24 most important Nazi leaders were tried by an International Military Tribunal. The accused: on the first row (from left to right): Goering, Hess, von Ribbentrop, Keitel, Kaltenbrunner, Rosenberg, Frank, Frick, Streicher, Funk. On the last row: Raeder, von Schirach, Sauckel, von Papen, Seyss-Inquart, von Neurath en Fritsche (Collection Ceges/Soma, N° 201130).