scholarly journals The Prospects for Customary Law in Transitional Justice: The Case of Fiji

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 249-262
Author(s):  
Joanna R Quinn

The use of customary law shows real promise in addressing the challenges that arise when confronting the legacies of past human rights abuses and atrocities.  Unlike typical transitional justice mechanisms like trials, truth commissions, and reparations programs, customary practices are community-based and well-known to the people who use them.  Indeed, customary practices could be used in transitional societies in place of “foreign” practices to bring about the same objectives.  This paper considers the role that customary law plays in Fiji.  It further assesses the prospects for the use of customary, traditional law in situations where transitional justice is called for.

2020 ◽  
pp. 686-710
Author(s):  
Angela Santamaria ◽  
Monica Acosta ◽  
Mauricio Alejandro Fernandez

Transitional justice and its range of mechanisms and goals appear to be an important debate about how to deal with past human rights abuses in transition societies or post conflicts. Because of the Peace and Justice Law 975 of 2005 and the actual Colombian scenario of a peace process between the Colombian state and FARC, the analysis of this kind of “justice” and the indigenous jurisdiction appear to be a complex subject in Colombia. The authors would like to discuss, the different uses of international and national laws concerning Indigenous peoples in Colombia, as a social process of complex interactions involving different types of agents (State actors, NGOs, international organizations, indigenous organizations, lawyers, etc.). In addition, it will be important to discuss how the transitional justice framework in Colombia brings up some incongruence to coordinate and apply concepts accordingly to the indigenous jurisdiction, drawing on four case studies and ethnographical work dealing with the international production of customary law.


Author(s):  
Angela Santamaria ◽  
Monica Acosta ◽  
Mauricio Alejandro Fernandez

Transitional justice and its range of mechanisms and goals appear to be an important debate about how to deal with past human rights abuses in transition societies or post conflicts. Because of the Peace and Justice Law 975 of 2005 and the actual Colombian scenario of a peace process between the Colombian state and FARC, the analysis of this kind of “justice” and the indigenous jurisdiction appear to be a complex subject in Colombia. The authors would like to discuss, the different uses of international and national laws concerning Indigenous peoples in Colombia, as a social process of complex interactions involving different types of agents (State actors, NGOs, international organizations, indigenous organizations, lawyers, etc.). In addition, it will be important to discuss how the transitional justice framework in Colombia brings up some incongruence to coordinate and apply concepts accordingly to the indigenous jurisdiction, drawing on four case studies and ethnographical work dealing with the international production of customary law.


Author(s):  
Gibson Ncube

This chapter is interested in how there has been a lack of transitional justice in Zimbabwe in the aftermath of the political disturbances and genocide of the early 1980s. The overarching argument is that the failure to recognise the value of Ubuntu has engendered a missed opportunity at transitional justice and healing of wounds, which were caused by the massacres. Ubuntu's three fundamental praxes, according to Samkange, are the three fundamental maxims: the respect and recognition of the humanity of others, the preservation of life (human and otherwise), and the importance of the will of the people in as far as governance is concerned. The failure, by ZANU-PF governments, to recognise the salience of these three maxims has led to the persistent marginalisation of ethnic minorities and also the violent impunity of governance characterised by human rights abuses. This chapter proposes an Afrocentric restorative justice model that is founded on the concept of Ubuntu and focuses on the salience of the spirit of humanity in managing human conflicts.


Author(s):  
Pierre Salmon

Among many aspects to the question of whether democracy is exportable, this contribution focuses on the role of the people, understood not as a unitary actor but as a heterogeneous set: the citizens. The people matter, in a different way, both in the countries to which democracy might be exported and in the democratic countries in which the question is about promoting democracy elsewhere. The mechanisms or characteristics involved in the discussion include yardstick competition, differences among citizens in the intensity of their preferences, differences among autocracies regarding intrusion into private life, citizens’ assessments of future regime change, and responsiveness of elected incumbents to the views of minorities. The second part of the contribution explains why promotion of democracy is more likely to work through citizens’ concern with human rights abuses than with regime characteristics.


Author(s):  
Foday Yarbou

AbstractThe conflict between Jammu and Kashmir has acquired a multifaceted character. On one hand, the conflict involves national and territorial contestations between India and Pakistan, and on the other, it entails different kinds of human rights abuses and various political demands by religious, linguistic, regional, and ethnic groups in both parts. This article aims to portrait the images and human rights abuses meted on the people of Jammu and Kashmir. It also urges and pleads to India and Pakistan and all those countries who are taking part directly or indirectly in the territorial disputes or conflict in the region of Jammu and Kashmir to end the conflict. Human rights abuse such as torture, rape, sexual harassment, murder, and unnecessary killings of the people of this region were all condemned by the author of this article. He further requests the international community such as the United Nation to take a bold step in settling the conflict in that region by passing an effective resolution at the international level that will put an end to the conflict. In this article, the author uses a qualitative research method to explore different journals and write up of scholars in finding tangible solutions to the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir. The author also uses a theoretical explanation in the article. The result of this article intends to see that all the main concerning points raised in this write-up are fully considered and implemented by the United Nation in bringing peace and stability in the region of Jammu and Kashmir. Conflict in this region has become a worrying issue in the international community and the necessary steps should be taken to bring it to halt.


2021 ◽  
pp. 530-550
Author(s):  
Janine Natalya Clark

Transitional justice refers to the set of judicial and non-judicial processes that societies may use to deal with legacies of past human rights abuses and atrocities. While the field is rapidly expanding, to date there are almost no systematic analyses of transitional justice within a resilience framework, or vice versa. The purpose of this chapter is to address that gap and to demonstrate why resilience is highly relevant for transitional justice theory and practice. It argues that resilience thinking can enhance the impact of transitional justice on the ground, by contributing to the development of more ecological approaches to dealing with the past that locate individuals within their broader social environments. The chapter also reflects on the conceptual and empirical utility of resilience as a concept that opens up a space for analyzing the wider societal and systemic impact of legal systems more generally.


Author(s):  
Aryeh Neier

This chapter focuses on the major goal of the international human rights movement has been in securing accountability for grave abuses. It talks about “truth commissions” in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, several countries of Asia, Morocco, and Canada, which deals with abuses against the country's indigenous population. It also highlights the establishment of several international criminal tribunals in order to prosecute and punish those accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The chapter explores accountability, which has become a central concern of the international human rights movement for the recognition or official acknowledgment of the suffering of victims of human rights abuses. It also analyzes the purpose of deniability, which made it possible for military regimes in that commit abuses to maintain a facadeof legality.


Author(s):  
Susan Waltz

Chapter 3, by Susan Waltz, addresses several of these challenges as well as other themes in a distinct way, drawing upon experiences before and after the Arab Spring from several countries in the region including Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia. She first draws attention to the apparent gaps between a set of universal human rights standards enshrined in international treaties, the practice of transitional justice with its focus on gross human rights abuses, and the expectations which have been raised of transitional justice, including of addressing questions of economic injustice. She then interrogates different facets of the problem of “impact” of transitional justice.


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