As UN Secretary-General Kofi Anan stated once In matters of justice and the rule of law, an ounce of prevention is worth significantly more than a pound of cure. Peace and stability can only prevail if the population perceives that politically charged issues, such as ethnic discrimination, unequal distribution of wealth and social services, abuse of power, denial of the right to property or citizenship, and territorial disputes between states, can be addressed in a legitimate and fair manner. Viewed this way, prevention is the first imperative of justice, addressing the root causes of conflict is the connecting factor between dealing- with- the past paradigm and the prevention paradigm and where the field of transitional justice is positioned.

Grievances derived from real and perceived political, economic, and social exclusions of groups, along with gender inequality, are increasingly considered as constituting some of the underlying drivers of violent conflict. Thus, addressing exclusions becomes the primary task of sustaining peace and ensuring short- and long-term prevention.

Transitional justice provides a process that allows for learning from past incidents of violence to prevent similar events in the future. Truth-seeking mechanisms, for example, can provide a roadmap for addressing political, social, and economic conditions that have instigated conflict outbreaks and contributed to human rights violations. The establishment of these types of mechanisms can also signal the political commitment to long-term transformational remedies for those that have been subject to violence, discrimination, and marginalization to benefit society as a whole. These efforts must be sustained through national electoral cycles and leverage other mechanisms and resources for societal change.