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The impact of conflict and human rights violations have long been felt by children and youth, however, it is only in the past decade that this segment of the population has risen into focus in processes of transitional justice. With its origins in the transitions to democracy that took place in Latin America in the 1980s, the field of transitional justice focuses on the challenge that societies face in dealing with a legacy of mass abuse. Through a combination of approaches--notably truth commissions, reparations, trials, and institutional reform--transitional justice aims to provide recognition to victims and foster civic trust on the path towards long-term objectives of facilitating respect for rule of law, democracy, and a stable peace. Within the work of the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), factors from two very different contexts, Sierra Leone and Canada, discussed below, pointed out the need to pay greater attention to children and youth and to fashion effective strategies for including children while at the same time protecting them from trauma associated with revisiting an abusive past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the search for a solution to the 'Cyprus problem', the focus of debates and discussions has been on power sharing agreements, land exchanges, right of return, and economics, but there has been little to no focus on reconciliation. In the aftermath of the referendum in which Cypriots were given an historic opportunity to vote on the reunification of the island, this research places the concept of reconciliation at the centre of the debate about the Cyprus problem. Based on data gathered in 2005 through forty interviews with Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot politicians, businessmen, activists, academics, organisational leaders, economists, and members of civil society, this article presents Cypriots' views on reconciliation. Drawing from literature on reconciliation in conflict divided societies as a framework, it will analyse the various perceptions Cypriots hold about the definition of reconciliation, what initiatives can be used to promote reconciliation in Cyprus, the obstacles on the path towards reconciliation, and the sequencing of reconciliatory measures. Overall, this article seeks to present an alternative to strict political engineering projects that characterise the current debate about the Cyprus problem, by encouraging creative approaches to conflict resolution such as truth commissions, revised history curricula, and joint projects that foster mutual understanding and shared commitment to peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]