Executive Summary Nyanga, Zimbabwe, on 4–6 October 2012. It was billed as a discussion platform for all stakeholders – government, policy-makers, civil society and the churches in the country – with the aim of encouraging wider thinking. The Forum invited different experts from countries that had experienced gross human rights violations and had applied various transitional justice mechanisms as a way of dealing with the past. These came from Rwanda, Germany, Uganda, Kenya, Liberia and the Philippines. Each presentation was specific to the experiences and mechanisms adopted for each country. The lessons learned from these experiences will inform decisions and strategies for policy-makers as well as other stakeholders in defining the ‘Way Forward for Zimbabwe’. Overview of violations in selected countries For more than the one hundred years of its existence, Zimbabwe has gone through different forms of violations, including colonization, the liberation struggle and post-conflict violations. Anthony Reeler summarizes this experience. Freddy Mutanguha captures the Rwandan experience with the genocide in which more than a million people were consumed in one hundred days of meaningless tribal anger. In Uganda the government, the Lord’s Resistance Army and a number of armed militants have caused undue suffering to citizens since independence, and Lyandro Komakech presents a strong case in this regard. Joachim Förster notes the extent of state terror in the former communist East Germany, where the state ruled through an effective secret police, the Stasi. The Philippines is a country where the elites and their families were united in stripping the state of its assets in a violent manner, and Justice Cleto Vilacorta demonstrates the extent of damage and the difficulty in recovering lost assets. Kenya presents a case of violent post-colony where the elites use violent means to capture or retain power; in his presentation, Davis Malombe shows how violence can devour society rapidly in short time. Blanche Satta Gaie notes the extent to which gender-based violence, particularly rape, was used during the Liberian conflict. Typical and possible transitional justice approaches Different transitional justice approaches have been and are still being applied to deal with those gross human rights violations, with the ultimate aim of achieving reconciliation and sustainable peace. The case studies show that the history of each country, its culture, tradition, the level of human rights awareness within each society, political will, and the involvement of civil society are decisive in determining the kind of approach and mechanism(s) to be applied to ensure xvi International Conference on Transitional Justice, Zimbabwe