Transitional justice originally referred to how to deal with past human rights violations in countries which were experiencing transitions from non-democratic to democratic systems . After the Cold War and the upheaval in East Europe , this concept was further used to refer to how to cope with past atrocities in the aftermath of wars or conflicts . In recent years , some developed countries'governments take many reparation programs such as apologies and compensations to comfort the groups which were historically discriminated and repressed by dominating groups . These activities are also called transitional justice . The United Nations and the international community have devised various mechanisms of transitional justice , including prosecutions ,reparations , truth-seeking , institutional reforms , vetting and so on . In a word , transitional justice is a response to systematic or widespread violations of human rights . Transitional justice might not be understood as an ontological and special idea of justice , but a methodology to reconcile ideal justice and real politics . Moreover , what transitional justice emphasizes is neither an absolute justice idea nor a coherent justice model .