Post-Transitional Justice Research Articles

Post-transitional Justice in Nigeria and the Igbo Nationalism Question

The 1990s saw the resurgence of transitional justice as a mechanism for reconciling groups and individuals in hitherto authoritarian and undemocratic states. The former military-governed states and post-conflict states in Africa adopted a truth commission approach to transitional justice and latched on to the window of opportunity that could engender new beginnings. Nigerians generally applauded the initiative of the Obasanjo civilian administration (1999-2007) of setting up a Truth Commission to investigate the human rights violations against individuals and groups between 1966 and 1999. With the aid of secondary data, this article adopts the descriptive and historical methodological approaches to interrogate the fissiparous tendencies of the Igbo ethnic nationality in Nigeria. The article employs content analysis to examine the variables that induced both the selfdetermination drive of the Igbo and the responses of the Nigerian government between 1999 and 2018. The work investigates the nexus in the activities of the two prominent separatist revival groups - the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) - and the Nigerian state, against the backdrop of the recommendations of the Truth Commission. The government’s inability to negotiate the implementation of the recommendations of the Truth Commission, and therefore redress the perceived historical injustices to the Igbo, resulted in continued exclusion, marginalisation and peripheralization of the Igbo in the Nigerian state.

Multilevel Governance in Post-Transitional Justice: The Autonomous Communities of Spain

The method adopted by Spain in dealing with the legacy of the Civil War and the Dictatorship can be depicted as a blank page approach, incorporating a combination of amnesty and amnesia. Among the actors that challenge this official line, the Autonomous Communities (ACs) particularly energize the post-transitional justice process. Complementing, transcending and superseding the efforts at the national level, the law-making activity in AC legislatures has come in two separate and diverse waves, leading to the development of public policy and institutions dealing with the recovery of memory. Political cycles surface as the factor shaping the resilience of governments' commitment. It is argued that the reinvigorated coexistence of regionalist and left-wing parties in the ACs bodes well for further memory-related policy development and institutionalization. With an interplay and occasional discord between the national and subnational governments, the experience of Spain demonstrates that multilevel governance is an aspect to be reckoned with in relation to how countries deal with their past.

Beyond Foot-Dragging: A Reflection on the Reluctance of South Africa’s National Prosecution Authority to Prosecute Apartheid Crimes in Post-Transitional Justice

To this day, apartheid is still regarded as one of the most heinous crimes to have affected humankind. The brutality of the apartheid system and its impact not only left devastating effects in the minds of the black majority who were affected by the system, but also drew international attention. This prompted the United Nations Security Council to pass drastic resolutions to try and end the apartheid system. It is important to highlight that apartheid crime was committed at the behest of the-then National Party government at the expense of the black majority. The attainment of democratic rule in 1994 also saw the emergence of the need for transitional justice. However, after 25 years of foot-dragging, the National Prosecution Authority in South Africa has still not been fully committed to prosecute apartheid atrocities. This article examines the crime of apartheid and the impact of the transitional justice process in South Africa. The article further reflects on the National Prosecution Authority’s reluctance to prosecute crimes of apartheid and examines the final report of the People’s Tribunal on Economic Crimes in South Africa.

On Judgment: Managing Emotions in Trials of Crimes Against Humanity in Argentina

For over a decade, judicial accountability of mass human rights violations committed during the last civil-military dictatorship in Argentina (1976–1983) has been carried out in federal courts by regular judges, following the rules of the National Code of Criminal Procedure. Research on these trials has focused mainly on the victims and the accused. This article opens a different path by exploring the affective experiences of the judges presiding over and leading the trials.Based on interviews with 18 federal court judges and some participant observation, in this article we present a descriptive exploration of the judges’ experiences and sensemaking processes. We examine the complex interaction between the professional requirement to separate emotions from judgment and the emotional toll that these trials produce in the personal and professional lives of the judges. We end with short reflections on these crimes against humanity trials in the post-Transitional Justice context.

Towards Post-Transitional Justice

When democratization took place in 1998 after three decades of authoritarianism in Indonesia, transitional justice became one of the agendas for the country. With the nature of compromised political transition, transitional justice brought together the interest of the elements who wished to challenge the repressive regime, and those who wished to distant themselves from the old regime in order to return to politics. As the result, transitional justice measures were successfully adopted in the beginning of political transition but failed to achieve its goals to break with the old regime and bring justice to victims. Today, after twenty years since reformasi, elements of the politics are consolidated, including those coming from the old regime. Transitional justice is undergoing a period I refer as “post transitional justice”. The main character of this state is the extensive roles of civil society. I argue in this paper that civil society, in particular the human rights groups, have important roles since the beginning of the transition in setting the agenda for transitional justice until today when state-centered mechanisms failed and led to post-transitional justice situation. These groups shift strategies to work from below and from the margins, which give strong character for post-transitional justice in Indonesia.

Chilean Human Rights Prosecutions: Jurisprudence and Case Analysis 1990-2019

Chile is one of a handful of countries worldwide that has attempted significant, sustained domestic prosecution of past crimes against humanity and other massive human rights violations. This publication summarises the legal and political significance of 40 principal case verdicts and other milestones in Chile´s post-dictatorship transitional justice trajectory. Major Supreme and lower court verdicts, Inter-American Court jurisprudence, and other justice milestones occurring between 1990-2019 for atrocity crimes committed between 1973 and 1990 are described and analysed in detail, highlighting their significance for national and international criminal justice. The precise data supplied allows researchers to further locate the original case verdicts. This rolling publication is part of a decade-long, and ongoing, research effort to map and analyse all aspects of Chile's post-transitional justice trajectory.

The Weight of the Continuous Past: Transitional (In)Justice and Impunity States in Central America

AbstractCentral America’s Northern Triangle is infamous for high levels of violent crime and human rights abuses, producing “impunity states” in which violence typically goes unpunished. That violence reflects the broader impunity or “transitional injustice” that has persisted since the peace accords and transitions to democracy of the 1980s and 1990s. Several “posttransitional” trials for past human rights violations in recent years in Guatemala were made possible by institutional strengthening efforts in the prosecutorial agency, led by a unique United Nations commission. Significant progress away from broad impunity may also be seen in the 2015 “Guatemalan Spring,” in which a sitting president was forced to resign and submit to prosecution in connection with a corruption scandal. Comparisons of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras suggest that institutional strengthening is necessary before “posttransitional justice,” or an end to impunity more generally, can be possible.

Yuyanapaq no entra: ritual dimensions of post‐transitional justice in Peru

AbstractThe anthropology of transitional justice has emphasized the ritual aspects of truth commissions but offered less analysis of the conventions through which narratives produced by such institutions come to be viewed over time. A controversy in Peru that centred on a new national museum's possible incorporation of a photo exhibit (Yuyanapaq) created by the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2001‐3) provides an opportunity to explore this problematic. Documenting the disagreements that ultimately led to Yuyanapaq's exclusion from the museum, I suggest that an emphasis on ritual outcomes – including perceived shortcomings and failures – is useful for understanding the long‐term trajectory of national reconciliation initiatives.

From Transitional to Posttransitional Justice: Continuity and Change after Democratization

From Transitional to Posttransitional Justice: Continuity and Change after Democratization

Variations on Justice: Argentina's Pre- and Post-Transitional Justice and the Justice to Come

ABSTRACTIn the mid-1990s Argentine human rights (HR) activists faced a daunting task: achieving some measure of justice for the crimes committed during the last civico-military dictatorship (1976–1983). Their struggles gave birth to the escrache – a rebellious demonstration that targets the perpetrators of HR crimes, denounces their deeds and exorcizes them from the social body. Three kinds of justice are braided together in this practice: social justice, historical justice and a demand for judicial accountability. Through an ethnographic exploration of the practice the paper offers an analysis of these three kinds of justice and the changes they underwent in the past two decades. By offering a grounded analysis of justice in the pre- and the post-transitional justice phases in Argentina the paper contributes to ongoing debates about the meaning of justice and the possibility of reconciliation in post-conflict situations.

Truth recovery and transitional justice: deferring human rights issues

1. Truth Recovery for Missing Persons and the Global Diffusion of 'Truth' Part I: Prolonged Silences 2. Spain: The Persistence of the 'Pact of Silence' 3. The Prevention of Truth Recovery for Missing Persons in Cyprus 4. Cases Compared: Hegemonic Silence and the 'Linkage Trap' Part II: Post-Transitional Justice 5. The Crumbling of the Pact of Silence in Spain 6. The Success Story of the Cyprus Problem 7. The Greek Puzzle 8. Cases Compared: Belated truth seekers and post-transitional justice 9. Conclusion 'Unearthing the Truth'

Brazilian Post-Transitional Justice and the Inter-American Human Rights System

The focus of this paper is on the role of the Inter-American Human Rights System and the types of transitional justice policies that may be required from Brazil in light of the Gomes Lund ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights from November 2010. I discuss some key implications of what the ruling, and the Brazilian government’s responses to it, tell us about the prospects for and limitations on Brazilian post-transitional justice, and arguably, Brazilian democracy more broadly.

Post-transitional Justice in Spain: Passing the Historical Memory Law

Post-transitional Justice in Spain: Passing the Historical Memory Law

Post-Transitional Justice: Human Rights Trials in Chile and El Salvador. By Cath Collins. University Park: Penn State University Press, 2010. 296p. $56.95 cloth, $28.95 paper. - Lustration and Transitional Justice: Personnel Systems in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. By Roman David. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011. 328p. $69.95.

Post-Transitional Justice: Human Rights Trials in Chile and El Salvador. By Cath Collins. University Park: Penn State University Press, 2010. 296p. $56.95 cloth, $28.95 paper. - Lustration and Transitional Justice: Personnel Systems in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. By Roman David. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011. 328p. $69.95.

Transitional Justice, Democratization and the Politics of the Death Penalty in Argentina

This chapter locates the abolition of the death penalty in Argentina in the context of the country’s processes of transitional justice over the course of the last three decades. Following the transition to democratic government in 1983, the abolition of the death penalty took place during two different stages and in two connected but distinct political contexts. First, in the immediate aftermath of the democratic transition the death penalty was abolished for ordinary crimes as part of a broader set of institutional and legal reforms. Second, in 2008 the death penalty was fully abolished for all crimes for members of the armed forces in both peacetime and in war. The abolition was again part of a broader set of reforms of military jurisdiction that constituted the culmination of a drawn-out and contentious process since the early transitional period of imposing civilian control over the military in Argentina. In the case of Argentina therefore, the abolition of the death penalty took place over an extended period of time and was not the result of an explicit and sustained abolitionist government policy since the transition to democracy. Yet, as this chapter demonstrates the prolonged process of abolition of the death penalty for all crimes and in all circumstances in Argentina was deeply embedded in broader political dynamics of transitional justice and institutional reforms. The abolition of the death penalty in the immediate transition to democracy was intended to signal the commitment of the new civilian government to a break with the repressive laws and practices of previous political regimes. The reform of the military jurisdiction that brought about the full abolition of the death penalty in Argentina was a result of protracted efforts to strengthen civilian control over the military.This chapter is divided into three main parts. The first outlines the historical context of the death penalty in Argentina. The death penalty has been in force periodically in Argentina since independence, though applied very infrequently, and it has been legally abolished during prolonged periods. The second part examines the transitional justice policies adopted and criminal justice reforms implemented during the initial transitional period, including the abolition of the death penalty in 1984 for common crimes. The third part traces, on the one hand, the evolution of transitional justice over time as momentum is lost during the 1990s, and, on the other, more recent developments surrounding the prosecution of individuals for past human rights abuses in Argentine courts. It explicitly links these recent post-transitional justice trends with a detailed analysis of the reform of the military code of justice that eventually led to the abolition of the death penalty in military jurisdiction. The chapter concludes with some brief reflections on the broader socio-political context and its implications for the continuing repressive character of the Argentine criminal justice system and the current status of the death penalty in the country.

Post-Transitional Justice: Human Rights Trials in Chile and El Salvador - by Collins, Cath

Post-Transitional Justice: Human Rights Trials in Chile and El Salvador - by Collins, Cath

Cath Collins, Post-Transitional Justice: Human Rights Trials in Chile and El Salvador (University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 2010), pp. xiii+277, $56.95, hb.

Cath Collins, Post-Transitional Justice: Human Rights Trials in Chile and El Salvador (University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 2010), pp. xiii+277, $56.95, hb.

Post-Transitional Justice: Human Rights Trials in Chile and El Salvador

Post-Transitional Justice: Human Rights Trials in Chile and El Salvador

Judicial independence and human rights in Latin America: violations, politics, and prosecution

Retributive Justice: The Politics of Prosecution Explaining Post-transitional Justice: A Tentative Theoretical Framework Argentina: From Trials to Pardons to Trials Chile: From Truth to Trials Uruguay: From Impunity to Trials The Independence of Judges and Post-transitional Justice Appendix 1 - List of Interviews Appendix 2 - Constitutional Reforms Affecting Judicial Independence

Post-transitional justice: human rights trials in Chile and El Salvador

Post-transitional justice: human rights trials in Chile and El Salvador