Community Justice or Ethnojustice? Engaging with Customary Mechanisms to Reintegrate Ex-Combatants in Somalia

Abstract

The inclusion of customary justice mechanisms is increasingly being invoked as an answer to the top-down, externally driven approach to transitional justice. But the practice of engaging with customary justice systems (CJS) proves complicated. The approach of governments and the international community has been criticized as ‘ethnojustice,’ where a male-elderly version of customary justice is invented and imposed, based on a myth of community consensus. In Somalia, the government and international community are currently considering a role for CJS in the reintegration of low-risk disengaged Al-Shabaab (AS) combatants. This article combines unique data on local perceptions regarding the return of ex-combatants in Somalia with insights from the literature, to critically examine the prospects of engaging customary justice mechanisms in South-Central Somalia in the reintegration of disengaged AS combatants and of a supporting role for the international donor community and the government.