[transitional justice] Reparations are broadly understood as compensation given for an abuse or injury. The colloquial meaning of reparations has changed substantively over the last century. In the early 1900s, reparations were interstate exchanges (see war reparations): punitive mechanisms determined by treaty and paid by the surrendering ... Found on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reparations_(transitional_justice)
Payment or other compensation provided by a government to a group of people or to another country to compensate for loss or damage that it has caused. Internationally, reparations have been paid after a war by the losers to the winners, most notably by Germany after World War I. Found on http://www-personal.umich.edu/~alandear/glossary/r.html
States have a legal duty to acknowledge and address widespread or systematic human rights violations in cases where the state caused the violations or did not seriously try to prevent them. Reparations initiatives seek to address the harms caused by these violations. Reparations publicly affirm that victims are rights-holders entitled to redress. Found on https://icma.org/glossary-terms-race-equity-and-social-justice