Jürgen Schurr Clearly, societies that have experienced long-term repression or that are emerging from violent conflict have a lot of issues to grapple with, and this statement emphasizes that there are a variety of components that raise a number of important questions that need to be addressed and discussed. Here, I will focus primarily on the right of victims of serious human rights violations to reparation in the context of transition. This is not to say that the other components are less important, or that reparation mechanisms operate in a vacuum. A focus on victims’ rights in transitional justice, however, is merited, as the perspectives, rights and needs of victims are often ignored. I will first briefly set out the key principles under international law that pertain to remedies and reparation for violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, before providing some examples of how countries emerging from conflict or repressive rule have attempted to implement victims’ right to reparation in practice in the context of transition. While all experiences are different, and transition processes need to be tailor-made to meet specific circumstances, some lessons and experiences from other countries might exist that could be taken into account in the context of Zimbabwe. A focus on victims’ rights is important as it enables victims’ suffering to be acknowledged and addressed so as to help healing and contribute to reconciliation. The need for reparation arises in every transitional justice context at some point in time: we have seen that in countries that have decided to establish a truth commission to deal with crimes committed in the past – such as South Africa, Sierra Leone, Morocco, Peru – and in countries that have opted for the broadest possible accountability of perpetrators, as in Rwanda, where close to two million cases have been heard and tried. In these and other countries, reparation for the victims of torture, of genocide and other serious human rights violations played – and, to some extent, continue to play – an important role. Ideally, victims will receive a tangible benefit from justice processes that enables them to move on. Equally, it is important to emphasize that these processes do not take place in a legal vacuum but, rather, that governments must adhere to certain obligations under national and international law when setting out to frame a transitional justice policy. What are victims’ rights under international law? Victims of human rights violations have a right to justice, which includes a right to know the truth and a right to reparation. It is long established in international law that a wrongful act involves an obligation on the part of the state to make 22 International Conference on Transitional Justice, Zimbabwe