One of the virtues conferred upon the transitional justice inthe countries where it has been implemented is its capacityto strengthen institutions and democracy. One of the ways tostrengthen democracy and indemnify victims is to encourage theirparticipation in transitional justice processes and other publicpolicies intended to assure their rights. Democratic participation ofpeople, however, is mediated by the quality granted to participatingsubjects. The objective of this article is to propose the needfor having a debate on the consequences brought by the way"victims" are conceived during their participation within reparationprocesses. Finally, this document puts into consideration somepoints that could be part of the debate on the conceptualizationof victims and their participation.