The development of a transitional-justice policy framework for the AU would provide the continental body with an occasion to respond judiciously and expeditiously to the difficult dilemmas of balancing the immediate need to secure peace with the longer-term importance of establishing the rule of law and preventing future conflicts. More vital, it would send an unambiguous message to opponents of justice that the pursuit of justice is an inevitable and necessary element of achieving reconciliation and stability in Africa. One experience the Panel of the Wise could draw from is outlined in the October 2009 report of the AU Panel on Darfur (commonly known as the Mbeki Panel after its chair, former South African President Thabo Mbeki), which offers the contours of a policy framework. Entitled, Darfur: The quest for peace, justice and reconciliation, the report outlines the challenge of finding an effective and comprehensive approach to the issues of accountability and impunity on the one hand, and to peace, healing and reconciliation on the other. It also elaborates a set of overarching recommendations appropriate for transitional justice in Africa as a whole. The recommendations in the Mbeki Panel report were adopted by the AU Peace and Security Council in its 207th meeting at the level of the heads of state and government on 29 October 2009, in Abuja, Nigeria. Transitional justice has several overlapping goals: to establish the truth about the past; end impunity for past (and sometimes continuing) human rights violations; achieve compensation for the victims of those violations; build a culture of the rule of law; lay the foundation for long-term reconciliation and political transformation; and prevent the recurrence of such abuses in the future. These goals correspond to numerous obligations imposed on states and contained in domestic constitutions, international human rights law, international humanitarian law, international criminal law, and international refugee law, as well as in the Charter of the United Nations (UN), the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and other regional instruments. These instruments together form the core norms and standards of transitional justice, including the duty to prosecute, the right to the truth, and the right to remedies and reparations. In 2015, the AU is set to adopt the African Union Transitional Justice Framework intended to assist member states emerging from violent conflicts and repression in their pursuit of accountability, sustainable peace and reconciliation. The framework sought to guide the AU on how it could complement the capacity of member states to implement transitionaljustice processes and realise their obligations. It came up with an actionable tool to: • Help end violent conflicts and repressive rule and nurture sustainable peace through development, social justice, human and peoples’ rights, democratic rule, and good governance; • Consolidate peace, reconciliation and justice in Africa and prevent impunity; • Draw lessons from various experiences across Africa in articulating a set of common concepts and principles to constitute a reference point for developing peace agreements and transitional-justice institutions and initiatives in Africa; and • Develop AU benchmarks for assessing compliance with the need to combat impunity. Transitional justice in international law As the field has expanded and diversified, it has gained an important foundation in international law. Part of the legal basis for transitional justice is the 1988 decision of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the case of Velásquez Rodríguez v. Honduras, in which the court found that all states have four fundamental obligations in the area of human rights, namely: 100 Community Healing: A training manual for Zimbabwe