Executive Summary accountability, abolish the culture of impunity, provide remedies to victims, bring perpetrators to justice and promote healing: ‘preventing the recurrence of crises and future violations of human rights, to ensure social cohesion, nation-building, ownership and inclusiveness at the national and local levels and to promote reconciliation’.7 In general, what is prevalent in most post-conflict situations is a culture of impunity and general amnesty that prevents the implementation of transitional justice mechanisms. It usually takes a very long time before societies develop and adopt adequate reconciliation and redress policies. In most instances, it has been made possible only after a change of government, a reform of institutions and/or the persistent claim for justice by civil society. The most typical and promising transitional justice approaches or mechanisms derived from the country case studies presented at the conference are given below. Rwanda: Rwanda adopted both national and international mechanisms for addressing the gross human rights violations that obtained in the country between 1990 and 1994 (the Rwanda genocide). At the international level, the prosecution of perpetrators was carried out through the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. At the local level, addressing the specific socio-cultural fabric and character of the conflict (genocide), traditional justice (Gacaca courts) and preventative measures – for example, social integration projects, memorialization – have been implemented as the main transitional justice mechanisms. Uganda: A history of different conflicts and failed peace agreements have left multiple legacies of violence in Uganda. Uganda chose a comprehensive transitional justice approach inclusive of formal and informal justice mechanisms. Germany: The German government promoted disclosure of formerly classified documents belonging to the secret police of the former German Democratic Republic as a truth-recovery mechanism. These documents are now being used for vetting, criminal prosecutions, rehabilitation of survivors, research and political education. It is important to note that 7  See: Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantee of non-recurrence, Pablo de Greiff, 9 August 2012, A/HRC/21/46, p. 5, available at <http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session21/AHRC-21-46_en.pdf>. Accessed 8 Apr. 2013. International Conference on Transitional Justice, Zimbabwe xvii