A/HRC/42/45
reconstruction of the social fabric and to facilitate reconciliation by empowering victims. It
began in 2012 with 10 communities and has continued since then.96 Key community leaders
act as interweavers. They are recognized in the community for their essential role fostering
collective health, rebuilding trust and re-establishing emotional bonds between members.
They receive training from the Victims’ Unit. They work in five areas: collective mourning,
rescuing old social practices shared by victims, respecting the differences that exist within
communities or groups, group reflection, and transforming local places where atrocities
took place.97
103. The Special Rapporteur would like to note that rehabilitation goes beyond physical
and medical care and includes other social services such as education. 98 Education is a tool
that can provide inclusion, recognition and empowerment. 99
104. While more domestic reparation programmes are acknowledging education as a
form of rehabilitation, its operationalization presents challenges. The Chilean approach to
rehabilitation constitutes an important attempt to provide rehabilitation to victims and has
enjoyed fairly good implementation. Law 19.123 included education for the children of
victims who were disappeared or killed, providing them with full scholarships for primary
and secondary schooling as well as for technical training until the age of 35. The
scholarship included the payment of tuition fees and a monthly stipend. 100 Equally, Law
19.992 included education for survivors of torture. 101 Given that many of the survivors were
older, the law was amended to allow the transfer of the education benefit to university level
(for undergraduate studies) for one child or grandchild. 102
105. Even in States ravaged by conflict, steps have been taken to provide education to
victims. In Sierra Leone, for example, the truth commission recommended free primary and
secondary education for the most vulnerable victims, including children who had suffered
amputation, the children of persons who had suffered amputation, victims of sexual
violence, children who had been abducted or conscripted, and orphans of war. 103 While the
implementation of reparation processes in Sierra Leone raises serious concerns, some of the
interim relief measures provided to victims in 2008 and 2009 were for educational support
for 6,984 children.104 By 2013, 1,298 victims had received approximately $1,400 each to
pay for child education. The overall impact of these contributions may be questioned, given
the lack of sustained and coordinated efforts to provide reparation to victims.
106. A problem with the provision of education as a form of reparation in countries
devastated by conflict is that not even basic education infrastructure is likely to be in place.
Therefore, States have to consider carefully how to combine – in a way that maximizes
their potential – development measures such as the construction of schools in areas ravished
by conflict, with victims’ entitlement to education: for example free access to quality
primary education as recognized under the right to education, or a monthly stipend for
children’s education kits or to help children with home expenditures so that they can focus
on studying, as recognized under the right to reparation. Something similar happens with
health services.
107. The Special Rapporteur considers that the lack of effective provision of
rehabilitation measures for vulnerable victims constitutes inhuman treatment and generates
new victimization.
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
See www.mininterior.gov.co/sites/default/files/noticias/informe_al_congreso_final.pdf, p. 76
See www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyZ2QVFj8_w (accessed on 25 March 2019).
Depending on the type of harm, education can also be conceived of as a form of satisfaction or
restitution or as a guarantee of non-recurrence.
Roger Duthie and Clara Ramírez-Barat, “Education as rehabilitation for human rights violations”,
International Human Rights Law Review, vol. 5, issue 2 (2016), pp. 241–273.
Law 19.123/1992, arts. 29–31.
Law 19.992/2004, arts. 11–14.
See www.indh.cl/bb/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/01_Informe-Anual-2017.pdf, p. 208.
Sierra Leone, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Witness to Truth, final report (Freetown, 2004),
vol. ii, p. 195.
Roger Duthie and Clara Ramírez-Barat, “Education as rehabilitation for human rights violations”,
International Human Rights Law Review, vol. 5, issue 2 (2016).
17
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