Welcome to IJR’s special website page, dedicated to celebrating the Institute’s 20^th Anniversary in 2020.

Launched in 2000, the IJR is celebrating 20 years of its existence this year and will mark this milestone by hosting events that will not only highlight its achievements but also reflect on some of the challenges it has encountered over the years. These events will also acknowledge and thank all the key stakeholders, past and present, who have partnered with the IJR.

The year 2020 is also significant on multiple levels for South Africa’s post-apartheid journey. It follows on a year that marked 25 years of freedom as well as the 18 years since the end of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC – originally set to run from 1995 – 1998 but was extended to 2002). While 1994 marked the dismantling of the Apartheid political structure, the TRC in 1996 marked a coming to terms with the social aspect of apartheid’s impact on its citizens and was seen as essential for the nation-building.

For the past 20 years, therefore, the IJR has been at the centre of that journey of facing the past and nation-building, as it attempted to ensure that lessons from our Apartheid past were not repeated and that South Africa moved forward.

For IJR the year 2020 presents an opportunity, along with the rest of the country and the world, to take stock of the justice and reconciliation agenda in SA and the world at large.

The Institute, together with its partner practitioners and communities, will engage the broader South African society, the continent and the world in a year-long interrogation of the above question in order to emerge with what will be the key drivers for justice and reconciliation in the decades to come. What were the challenges, how will the coming generations make sense of this journey and how can we be better prepare in the work that we do? The events that that will be taking place during this year will feature opportunities to engage, not only with key aspects of this question but also with the different generations of SA citizens over the past 20 years, who have already begun to approach this history from very different vantage points.

20th Anniversary message from our Executive Director

Our 20 Year Journey in Snapshots

2000

2002

2003

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

2015

2018

2000

IJR instituted

2002

South African Reconciliation Barometer founded

2003

IJR’s reach extends to Angola, the DRC, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, the Sudan and Zimbabwe

2004

Transformation Audit and Ashley Kriel Memorial Lecture launched

2006

IJR hosts national conference: A National Priority? TRC Recommendations and the Need for Redress

2008

IJR receives the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education

2010

IJR hosts policy seminar in Kinshasa with the CCJT

2012

IJR becomes a Core partner of the Afrobarometer network

2015

IJR presents an inclusive approach towards peace and stability at Burundi, the eastern DRC and Rwanda

2018

IJR’s reach expands to the Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and Northern Ireland

A calendar of events for our anniversary