Justice In Post-conflict Societies Research Articles

THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT IN TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE OF THE POST-CONFLICT SOCIETIES

As a complex concept, transitional justice includes processes and mechanisms related to the efforts of post-conflict societies to face inter alia the consequences of mass abuses and violations of basic human rights. National and international non-judicial and judicial mechanisms are included in these processes. The international courts, the aim of which is to prosecute genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, could also be included. The international intervention through investigations could be an important contribution in achieving the goals of transitional justice. Reasonably, these processes are expected to lead to reconciliation and sustainable peace. Unfortunately, in practice, sometimes these expectations turn into disappointments. The paper aims at providing an overview of some of the actual and potential questions of the contribution of The Court in transitional justice in post-conflict societas. The intention is to answer two key questions: 1. Whether and how the International Criminal Court can contribute in achieving the goals of transitional justice? 2. Has the Court since it was established until today made a significant contribution in achieving the goals of transitional justice in post-conflict societies? In this order, we will review the key instruments that are available to the International Criminal Court from a formal point of view, and will consider the Court’s possibilities for processing specific cases from a practical point of view. The factual challenges and criticisms that the International Criminal Court has faced since its inception, will also be discussed.

On Deserving Victims and the Undeserving Poor: Exploring the Scope of Distributive Justice in Transitional Justice Theory and Practice

This article explores the relationship between distributive justice and transitional justice in post-conflict societies with challenging socioeconomic demands. It revisits the main philosophical debate on distributive justice in the Anglo-American tradition and traces its reception by academics and practitioners in the fields of development, human rights, and transitional justice. The article shows that transitional justice often sets in motion an opportunity conception of distributive justice that revolves around individual responsibility and deservingness, which entails three negative consequences affecting victims and non-victims alike. First, it justifies an unequal guarantee of their economic and social rights; second, it undermines their self-respect; third, it exhausts public support for victim-oriented policies. In so doing, this article distances itself from the existing consensus that transitional justice and distributive justice are different spheres of justice and argues that it is necessary to develop theoretical frameworks that recognize their intimate connection to overcome the pitfalls identified.

Transitional Justice and the Legacy of Nuremberg: The Promise and Problems of Confronting Atrocity in Post-Conflict Societies

It's been over 70 years since the Nuremberg trials helped establish the primacy of legal mechanisms to deal with international human rights abuses, especially for genocide. Since then, we have seen a proliferation of courts and tribunals focused on bringing to justice perpetrators of genocide. In this paper, we critically examine the ways in which Nuremberg shaped and influenced these responses to genocide and to our understanding of the nature of justice in post-conflict societies. In an era when genocides and mass atrocity crimes continue to occur, it is important to understand the benefits and limitations of legal strategies for post-conflict societies and how they influence other transitional justice mechanisms. We bring to light the clear tension between the different goals of international criminal justice, namely punishment, prevention, and peace, and show that increased reliance on punishment does not necessarily brings about peace. To sustain peace and stability in post-conflict era, countries have also turned to truth and reconciliation commission, lustration, and reparation.

Transitional Justice in Post-Conflict Societies

Transitional Justice in Post-Conflict Societies

A Report on the International Conference on Transitional Justice in Post-Conflict Societies in Africa Held at Hekima Institute of Peace Studies and International Relations, Nairobi on 8-9th October 2014

Transitional justice is an approach to achieving justice in times of transition from conflict. It aims at providing recognition of the rights of victims of a conflict and their redress. If applied correctly, measures of transitional justice would help guarantee that violations do not recur. Traditionally, academia has given the subject of transitional justice a wide berth. This conference was both timely and relevant as it delved into the current political atmosphere in several countries in Africa, using them as case studies of the effectiveness of transitional justice.

Reparations and Reconciliation in the Aftermath of Civil War

Both international legal principles and much of the literature on transitional justice support the provision of reparations as a necessary component of justice in postconflict societies. According to the UN Basic Principles and Guidelines (United Nations 2005: para. IX), “adequate, effective and prompt reparation is intended to promote justice by redressing gross violations of international human rights law or serious violations of international humanitarian law.” However, few scholarly studies have looked systematically at victims’ views of the importance of various forms of reparations in providing justice. Using individual-level data collected in the aftermath of the civil war in Nepal, we investigate people's perceptions of the importance of various forms of reparations that appear in the UN Basic Principles and Guidelines and that have been offered in transitional justice processes. The findings suggest that compensation for losses, along with punishment of perpetrators, are viewed as being more important to providing justice for individuals than other forms of reparations, regardless of the type of grievance(s) suffered.

The Culture of Law: Understanding the Influence of Legal Tradition on Transitional Justice in Post-Conflict Societies

The Culture of Law: Understanding the Influence of Legal Tradition on Transitional Justice in Post-Conflict Societies

Reconciliation(s): Transitional Justice in Postconflict Societies. By Joanna R. Quinn, ed. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2009. 313 pp. $95.00 cloth.

Reconciliation(s): Transitional Justice in Postconflict Societies. By Joanna R. Quinn, ed. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2009. 313 pp. $95.00 cloth. What is reconciliation in postconflict settings? This contested question perplexes scholars in the field of transitional justice (TJ), which generally concerns itself with how nations address a past of widespread human rights violations during episodes of violence and the breakdown of the rule of law and democracy. Since its debut some 20 years ago, the discipline of TJ has generated a growing body of literature that continues to outpace the estimated 40 countries that have opted to pursue judicial and nonjudicial mechanisms like truth commissions, reparations, criminal trials, and institutional reform, among other measures, to prevent new cycles of violence (Hayner 2010). Often these articles, books, and chapters examine the theory and case studies of TJ, all the while making passing reference to ''reconciliation'' as an overarching aim of these national political processes. Conveying grand promises to return societies to ''normalcy,'' reconciliation has become the focal point of the TJ movement (Sarkin & Daly 2004). Yet despite the great deference displayed in the canon of TJ literature, readers are often left puzzling over the exact definition of reconciliation. Moreover, despite this lacuna in clarity, few academics venture into this uncharted land of confronting the topic of reconciliation head-on. For that reason, I was intrigued that Joanna R. Quinn bravely took on the challenge of tackling this daunting ground by making reconciliation the central theme of her edited volume Reconcilia- tion(s): Transitional Justice in Postconflict Societies. As Quinn explains in her introduction, the invited authors all attempt to ''come to terms with the many-headed beast that is reconciliation'' (p. 12). Quinn and her cohorts respond to the fact that in the last 20 years reconciliation has come to assume ''multiple meanings and understandings'' (p. 290) but that ''those within the transitional justice community have not settled on any one particular definition of reconciliation'' (p. 5). Quinn herself candidly reveals her own grappling with defining the term: ''What, then, of this thing called reconciliation? In past writing and teaching, I have been reluctant to address the issue of reconciliation for a couple of reasons: first, even with the innumerable articles and books available on the subject, the definition of reconciliation has proven illusive, and I have never understood completely just what 'reconciliation' was supposed to be'' (p. 182). Thus, Quinn enlists the contributing authors of Reconciliation(s) to figure out what reconciliation looks like and how transitioning nations get there, all beginning with the premise that ''reconciliation can mean very different things to different people . . . the contributing authors agree, however, that, at its heart, reconciliation is about building relationships of trust and cohesion'' (p. 5). Practitioners and academics alike, the authors represent a variety of disciplines (education, political science, philosophy, theology, law, psychology), which inevitably means a rich combination of styles, methodologies, and analytical frameworks. This composition could potentially frustrate a reader eager for a set paradigm for framing reconciliation, but then again the diversity of perspectives merely symbolizes the dynamism of reconciliation, incapable of being captured by just one interpretive ''notional lens'' (p. 12). Alternatively, there is a style to suit each reader's preference: theoretical and philosophical ruminations, case-based inquiries, anthropological thick description and nuanced observation, and political-legal frameworks for testing political models and hypotheses, among others. Indeed, Quinn notes that many of the chapters test ''how realities of TJ correspond to conceptual arguments'' (p. …

Understanding the relationships between local court system and restorative justice in contrast to the International Criminal Court (ICC)

The article aims to compare the role that the International Criminal Court, as opposed to local courts is able to play in providing restorative justice in post-conflict societies. The author examines in detail the experience of the Rwandese ‘Gacaca’ courts, in order to demonstrate that local courts achieve better results than international or Western-biased criminal courts. The article further raises many useful insights that can throw some light on some of the current problems in Africa. While this traditional mechanism of the local court system demonstrates the wisdom that has sustained the local court systems, the modern African leaders appear to rebel against their roots through dictatorial rule that sentences the greater percentage of the population to a miserable life in pursuance of justice. It is within this perspective that the author noted that local tribunals of suspects can easily speed the trials which would cost the government dearly if international criminal courts were used. However, reconciliation and forgiveness remain pertinent challenges of local courts system because of the tensions that are eminent between victims, offenders and the community due to poor mechanism for reintegration for those found guilty. Key words: Grand coalition, rigging, Gacaca, toxic leaders, impunity, genocide, restorative justice, local tribunal, International Criminal Court, perpetrators.

Reconciliation(s): Transitional Justice in Postconflict Societies, ed. Joanna R. Quinn. Traditional Justice and Reconciliation after Violent Conflict: Learning from African Experiences, ed. Luc Huyse and Mark Salter

In recent years, the focus of transitional justice scholarship has started to shift from institutions and processes towards questions of outcomes and impact. Early discussions in this field centred on concepts such as truth and justice, which were often treated as ends in themselves. In reality, however, those concepts were usually means to other ends, for example, pursuing truth and justice because they might, variously, deter future crimes, eradicate the culture of impunity, counter historical denial or help rebuild fractured individual and communal relations. Reconciliation(s): Transitional Justice in Postconflict Societies , edited by Joanna Quinn, and Traditional Justice and Reconciliation after Violent Conflict: Learning from African Experiences , edited by Luc Huyse and Mark Salter, continue this current interest in the ultimate aims of transitional justice. In particular, they focus on two such objectives: healing and reconciliation. The two books share some important premises and methods and formulate some similar arguments. A core idea in both volumes is that, in considering how best to address conflict and postconflict situations, there are no available templates or one-size-fits-all approaches. There may be some general principles derived from international experiences, but locality and nuance are everything. This starting point leads both books to explore the role of local, ‘traditional’ or customary justice in transitional settings; Traditional Justice and Reconciliation focuses exclusively on this theme, while Reconciliation(s) devotes four of 13 chapters to it.

Joanna R. Quinn, editor Reconciliation(s): Transitional Justice in Postconflict Societies. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2009, viii, 313 p.

Joanna R. Quinn, editor Reconciliation(s): Transitional Justice in Postconflict Societies. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2009, viii, 313 p.

Reconstruction of public security and justice in post conflict societies: The Rwandan experience

During a period of one hundred days, from April to July 1994, an estimated 800,000 to 1 million people, one‐tenth of the country's population, were murdered as part of a plan to eliminate the Tutsi people of Rwanda while the international community stood by. Following the restoration of order, the Rwandan Government imprisoned thousands of Hutus that allegedly participated in the genocide with more than 100,000 languishing in Rwandan prisons awaiting resolution of their cases. The purpose of this paper is to review the challenge presented to the Rwandan justice system of bringing these prisoners to justice while also seeking a reconciliation that may lead to a lasting peace.