ATJRC’s Professor Helen Scanlon and the Department of Politics at the University of Cape Town hosted a seminar on 9 September 2026, marking the launch of Dr Saghar Shahidi-Birjandian, PhD. Shahidi-Birjandian’s co-edited volume, Intergenerational Survivors of Genocide and Mass Atrocities: Lived Experiences of Knowledge Providers.
Negotiations toward a new Crimes Against Humanity Convention have renewed debate about how international law should address systemic gender-based oppression.
The South African government has released a Draft National Policy Framework for Heritage Memorialisation intended to guide how heritage and memory practices are governed nationally.
Hosted by the University of Cape Town, the Foundation for Human Rights and the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation in partnership with the African Transitional Justice Research Coalition (ATJRC)
In May 2025, the South African Department of Sports, Arts and Culture released the Draft National Policy Framework for Heritage Memorialisation for public comment. The Draft Policy Framework presents heritage as a tool of fostering nation-building, social cohesion and national development. It presents National Legacy Projects as an instrument for transforming South Africa's heritage landscape.
Nearly three decades after the end of apartheid, many families are still waiting for answers. In this episode of our In Conversation series, we sit down with Sesetu Holomisa, Project Officer at the Foundation for Human Rights, to discuss the ongoing struggle for truth and justice.
The African Transitional Justice Research Centre (ATJRC) recently had the privilege of screening Matabeleland, a powerful documentary by filmmaker Nyasha Kadandara, during the July 2025 Transitional Justice Conference held in Cape Town, South Africa.
On 11 August 2025, the inquest into the 1 May 1993 Highgate Hotel Massacre resumed at the Special Tribunal in East London. This follows earlier sittings in January and March and is another step in uncovering the truth behind an attack that left five people dead and seven injured.
Over two days, participants from across the continent and beyond considered how to sustain and/or re-strategise the pursuit of justice in an era of democratic backsliding, authoritarian consolidation, historical denialism, contested and shrinking civic space, and new forms of political violence.
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![[Left to right, at the back]: Lee Sungju, Asemahle Tshoni, Anastasia Solomons, Sesetu Holomisa, A/Professor Helen Scanlon, Mirjam Ellemers, Stephanie Wild. [Left to right sitting]: Dr Gertrude Fester, Dr Saghar Shahidi-Birjandian, Professor Phil Clark](https://atjc.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Launch-of-Dr-Saghar-Shahidi-Birjandian-PhD.-Shahidi-Birjandians-co-edited-volume-3.jpeg)
