I’ve been back on the Aten team for two months now, catching up on recent work and initiatives. To help with this, I started going through client projects we’ve completed in the last year. Several jumped out at me, but perhaps none more than site redesign ICTJ.org which launched last spring.
The International Center for Transitional Justice is a nonprofit agency working in the field of ‘transitional justice’. This was a new term to me, which I found to represent some intense and meaningful work. Transitional justice refers to measures implemented in the wake of massive human rights violations; that includes partnering with both government and non-government organizations, criminal victims and perpetrators to reform societies and societal groups that have been involved in and affected by human rights abuses. ICTJ works to find and tell the truth about heinous crimes, hold responsible parties accountable, and help victims move into a future without fear of repeat atrocities. That’s a lot to wrap your head around. We’re talking work in the trenches of major issues: genocide, war crimes, child slavery, gender oppression, just to name a few.
Thanks to mainstream media, we are often painfully aware of the treasonous acts against humanity taking place worldwide, while less informed about groups fighting to end such devastation. ICTJ has stepped into the aftermath of many such battles. They were in Argentina aiding in response to the Dirty War, in Peru helping negotiate reparations between rural communities and their government, in Iraq documenting the aftermath of the fall of the Ba’ath Party. Working with transitional justice issues in over 30 countries to bring justice and reform to societies in need, it’s high time ICTJ became a household name.
I talked with some of our team members about their work on the ICTJ.org redesign project. Across the board Aten’s team felt the weight of ICTJ’s impact and took to heart our commitment to accurately reflect their work and clearly represent their mission. We jumped on the opportunity to be involved.
Looking back over this project and the continuing impact of ICTJ, I recognize what a privilege it is to work with organizations making positive, lasting changes in our world. Here at Aten, we get excited about doing great work for people doing great work--that’s what we’re all about.