This report is the outcome of Hafıza Merkezi’s three-year field research project, Justice Heals. Employing an interdisciplinary approach, the research examines violations of the right to life affecting children and youth in the Kurdish region of Turkey between 2000 and 2015.

As a continuation of Hafıza Merkezi’s earlier work on the 1990s, this study investigates how violations of the right to life and practices of impunity evolved in the Kurdish region between 2000 and 2015—a period characterized by certain political openings and the peace process. It further explores how those who experienced these violations articulate their demands for justice, peace and reparation, as well as how their visions of the future are shaped. By questioning the conventional dichotomy between retributive justice and restorative justice, the study seeks to understand how these approaches may complement and transform one another in the pursuit of justice for both individuals and the broader society.

Conducted at a time when the horizon of transitional justice remained absent or blurred, this research underscores the importance of sustaining a multifaceted struggle for justice—one that confronts structural inequalities and addresses multiple layers of violence to transform both the present and the future.