A/HRC/22/29 B. The role of State and non-State actors 49. Both State and non-State actors should contribute to the furtherance or slowing down of transitions to democracy. A successful or viable transitional process is contingent on its anchoring in nationwide reforms to ensure respect for human rights and the rule of law. The second International Conference of New or Restored Democracies, held in Managua in 1994, noted the structural vulnerability of new democracies. The encumbrance of the process by the lack of a credible opposition, weak civil society, weak economies, political monopoly by ruling party, potential military intervention, weak democratic political culture, and incumbency continuity that precludes regime change, is vexing.14 50. Newly elected authorities must address the question of impunity, and ensure accountability for serious and systematic violations of human rights and international humanitarian law involving State and non-State actors, through effective redress and remedial strategies. This includes, inter alia, criminal prosecution and national investigation commissions. 51. Transitional justice, a conception of justice associated with periods of political change, characterized by legal responses to confront the wrongdoings of repressive predecessor regimes,15 emerges as an imperative to successful transitions to democracy. The notion of transitional justice ―comprises the full range of processes and mechanisms associated with a society’s attempts to come to terms with a legacy of large-scale past abuses, in order to ensure accountability, serve justice and achieve reconciliation. These may include both judicial and non-judicial mechanisms, with differing levels of international involvement (or none at all) and individual prosecutions, reparations, truthseeking, institutional reform, vetting and dismissals, or a combination thereof.‖ 16 Persons unlawfully deprived of liberty or convicted without due process must be granted compensation and rehabilitation. The role of an independent and efficient judiciary is crucial in this context. 52. The empowerment and involvement of civil society in the practice of democracy is essential to its good functioning. To facilitate a democratic transition, civil society organizations must actively advocate tolerance, trust and mutual respect. Ultimately, the manifold contribution of civil society to democracy can be identified as agenda-setter, educator, counterpart of the Government and source of new political alternatives. 17 VI. Lessons learned and best practices A. National experiences 53. Responding to the note verbale of 11 July 2012 from OHCHR, Member States highlighted the following. 14 15 16 17 Usman A. Tar, ―The challenges of democracy and democratisation in Africa and the Middle East‖, Information, Society and Justice, vol. 3, No. 2 (July 2010), p. 88. Ruti Teitel, ―Transitional justice genealogy,‖ Harvard Human Rights Journal, vol. 16 (2003), p. 69. Report of the Secretary-General on the rule of law and transitional justice in conflict and post-conflict societies (S/2004/616), para. 8. Mehran Kamrava and Frank O. Mora, ―Civil society and democratization in comparative perspective: Latin America and the Middle East‖, Third World Quarterly, vol. 19, No. 5 (December 1998), p. 897; Caroline Boussard, Crafting Democracy: Civil Society in Post-Transition Honduras (Lund, Sweden, Bloms Tryckeri, 2003), p. 19. 11