The report  “Gearing Up the Fight Against Impunity: Dedicated Investigative and Prosecutorial Capacities” was prepared jointly by the International Center for Transitional Justice and the Foundation for Human Rights in South Africa. The report emerges from efforts to persuade the South African government to create a dedicated capacity to investigate and prosecute apartheid-era crimes, which have been long neglected. 

The report explores specialized units established in 23 countries to investigate and prosecute serious international crimes. Notwithstanding the challenges faced by these units, the study concludes that countries with a specialized institutional approach are considerably more successful in bringing perpetrators to justice when compared with countries without dedicated capacities. The report also analyses how specialized units have been instrumental in bringing justice to victims of the Syrian conflict.

The report was co-authored by Advocate Howard Varney and Katarzyna Zduńczyk.