Executive Summary This year, 2013, marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Organization of African Unity — the African Union’s predecessor. Unfortunately the continent is far from being united. Prior to countries’ independence, and thereafter, the continent has faced various conflicts leading to gross human rights violations, crimes against humanity, organized violence and torture, ethnic violence, border disputes and religiously motivated violence, among others. Most member states of the African Union are struggling to deal with their past while at the same time being confronted with new conflicts. Transitional justice is crucial in dealing with the past and in achieving reconciliation. The United Nations Secretary General’s report on the rule of law and transitional justice in conflict and post-conflict societies describes transitional justice as ‘the full range of processes and mechanisms associated with a society’s attempt to come to terms with the legacy of large-scale past abuses, in order to ensure accountability, serve justice and achieve reconciliation’.1 The UN Human Rights Council, pursuant to its Resolution 18/7 of 29 September 2011, appointed Professor Pablo de Greiff as the first Special Rapporteur on the ‘promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of nonrecurrence’ with effect from 1 May 2012. Resolution 18/7 mandates the Special Rapporteur to deal with situations in which there are gross human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law. In addition, the Human Rights Council requests the mechanism to adopt a comprehensive approach to its mandate in a way as to ‘ensure accountability, serve justice, provide remedies to victims, promote healing and reconciliation, establish independent oversight of the security system and restore confidence in the institutions of the State and promote the rule of law in accordance with international human rights law’.2 Thus the implementation of transitional justice is a fundamental issue, recognized at national, regional and international levels towards achieving sustain­able peace. The discourse on transitional justice has been growing in Zimbabwe over the years. The following section highlights some of the processes and/or events leading to this debate. 1  Report of the UN Secretary General: S/2004/616, available at <http://www.unrol.org/ files/2004%20report.pdf>. Accessed 29 Jan. 2013. 2  Human Rights Council Resolution A/HRC/RES/18/7, available at <http://www.news.admin. ch/NSBSubscriber/message/attachments/27961.pdf>. Accessed 8 Apr. 2013. International Conference on Transitional Justice, Zimbabwe xiii