scholarly journals Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls National Inquiry:

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 1-37
Author(s):  
Diana L. Wegner ◽  
Stephanie Lawless
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Indigenous Women ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
Rhetorical Genre ◽  
Women And Girls ◽  
Advisory Role

In this paper we present a rhetorical genre analysis of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) National Inquiry. We focus on the concepts of meta-genre and genre hybridity in the context of social change to explore the dynamics of the MMIWG Inquiry as an instantiation of the “truth commission” (TC). Following Giltrow (2002), we treat meta-genre as advice and criticism from genre participants about how a genre should be performed. We apply Gready’s analysis (2011) of the TC as a hybrid genre that has emerged in the context of transitional justice and post-modern governance: the hybrid incorporates three sub-genres: the state (public/national) inquiry, the human rights report, and the official history (rewritten and archived). Our goals are to examine what the concepts of meta-genre and genre hybridity offer to help explain the difficulties of national inquiries/truth commissions in general, and specifically to help illuminate the problematics of the MMIWG Inquiry. Our qualitative analysis focuses on public and media metageneric commentary on the MMIWG Inquiry, including the Commissioners’ responses, in both mainstream traditional media and social media. Our findings show that meta-generic commentary on the MMIWG Inquiry falls into five main categories or themes, each deriving from stakeholders’ expectations raised by the tributary genres.  By far, the most dominant theme is criticism of the Inquiry for its recolonizing legal framework: the ideology of colonialism that inhabits the TC’s state inquiry tributary genre is the object of significant meta-generic criticism. The other four recurrent themes are the perception that the Inquiry should be a criminal investigation, criticism of the Inquiry for its restriction to an “advisory” role only, calls for the inquiry to have a human rights framework, and the expectation that the inquiry is to facilitate meaningful reconciliation. We suggest that, as a recurring and constitutive feature of genre, and, as an arena of negotiation over how genre is to be performed, meta-genre can function as a kind of oversight and challenge that, as an index of social change, inhabits genre as a response to its own inertia. We also suggest that the TC genre creates genre confusion through its conflation of the widely divergent and broad exigences of its tributary genres. We conclude that, at the time of this writing, stakeholders’ diverse expectations, the TC’s problematic hybridity, and the MMIWG Inquiry’s colonizing, statist, legal framework constrain the impetus for change, rendering the Inquiry “truth-lite” (Gready, p. 50) and low impact, and affording only “thin reconciliation”.      

scholarly journals Closing the cultural rights gap in transitional justice: Developments from Canada’s National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-52
Author(s):  
Colin Luoma
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Indigenous Women ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
Final Report ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Bodily Integrity ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Scope Of Application ◽  
Women And Girls

Canada’s National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (the ‘MMIWG Inquiry’) is the latest truth-seeking body to grapple with legacies of violence against indigenous peoples in settler colonial states. While the name, Missing and Murdered, ostensibly limits its scope of application to bodily integrity crimes, the MMIWG Inquiry instead embraced an expansive understanding of violence to encompass gross violations of indigenous cultural rights and cultural harm more generally. This article argues that this holistic approach represents a stark departure from mainstream transitional justice models which have overwhelmingly prioritised the redress of a limited set of civil and political rights violations, while neglecting the underlying structural violence and cultural harm that permeates divided societies. This article advances a case to understand the MMIWG Inquiry as a transitional justice mechanism and draws upon its Final Report to analyse how truth commissions can engage with cultural rights violations in more meaningful ways. By directly and robustly accounting for indigenous cultural harm, the MMIWG Inquiry challenged the conventional parameters of the field and demonstrated the opportunity and utility of addressing cultural rights violations through a transitional justice framework.

Measuring the impact of punishment and forgiveness: a framework for evaluating transitional justice

2006 ◽  
Vol 88 (861) ◽  
pp. 19-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Hazan
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Community ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
The Impact

Truth commissions, international criminal tribunals, reparations, public apologies and other mechanisms of transitional justice are the new mantras of the post-cold-war era. Their purpose is to foster reconciliation in societies that have experienced widespread human-rights violations and to promote reform and democracy, the ultimate aim being to defuse tension. But to what degree are these mechanisms, which are financially and politically supported by the international community and NGOs, truly effective? Very little, in fact, is known about their impact. By examining the underlying hypotheses and workings of transitional justice and proposing a series of indicators to evaluate its results, this article helps to fill the gap.

Out of Eastern Europe

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 409-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jelena Subotić
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
The Political ◽  
Difficult Case ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Political Challenge

What is the contribution of Eastern European scholarship to the study of human rights and transitional justice? This essay takes stock of the most significant empirical and theoretical contributions of the study of Eastern Europe, specifically the study of the difficult case of the former Yugoslavia, to the scholarship on transitional justice. I identify three main challenges the scholarship on the former Yugoslavia has presented to the larger field of transitional justice: the political challenge of multiple overlapping transitions, the inability of international institutions to effect domestic social change, and the dangers of politicization of past violence remembrance.

Part II The Right to Know, A General Principles, Principle 2 The Inalienable Right to the Truth

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Groome Dermot
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
Right To Know ◽  
International Courts ◽  
International Convention ◽  
The Right To Know ◽  
The Right ◽  
International Instruments

Principle 2 is concerned with the inalienable right to truth, a right that arises from the right to know and obliges governments to establish mechanisms to facilitate the revelation of the truth about serious violations of human rights. The right to truth has been explicitly incorporated into several international instruments and, in 2010, became expressly guaranteed in the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED). In practice, the right to truth is realized through laws enabling requests for state-held information; archives; truth commissions; national and international courts; and human rights commissions. After providing a contextual and historical overview of Principle 2, this chapter describes its normative (legal/ethical) foundation, focusing on how its interpretation is influenced by international law and how it relates to notions of transitional justice. It also analyzes the applications of the Principle in practice.

Temporal Patterns in Latin American Truth Commission Recommendation Formulation and Implementation

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm ◽  
Dylan Wright
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Political Transition ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
Truth Commission ◽  
Commission Recommendation ◽  
Latin American Countries ◽  
Global Initiatives

Abstract Remarkably little attention has focused on the formulation and implementation of truth commission (tc) recommendations. We use Skaar et al.’s original data on approximately 1000 recommendations produced by 13 truth commissions established in 11 Latin American countries between 1983 and 2014 to examine how recommendations and government responses to them have evolved over nearly 40 years. Truth commissions appear to be regularly influenced by major global transitional justice and human rights developments as they formulate recommendations. They target specific marginalised identity groups in their recommendations, particularly after major global initiatives to recognise the rights of such groups. Yet, governments often forego implementing such recommendations. Recommendations also appear to be shaped by whether the commission was established right after a political transition. Post-transitional commissions, which come five or more years after transition, issue more recommendations dealing with reparations of all sorts. However, whether overwhelmed by the number of proposals or more immune to pressure to enact such measures, governments implement these recommendations less regularly. These commissions also do not invoke the importance of reconciliation as transitional commissions do.

scholarly journals Transitional justice: (re)conceptualising the field

2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Bell ◽  
Colm Campbell ◽  
Fionnuala Ní Aoláin
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Violent Conflict ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
Legal Research ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Past ◽  
Legal Methodology ◽  
Practical Implications

Transitional justice discourse is generally accepted as having its foundations located in the theoretical, policy and practical implications of dealing with past human rights violations in societies that have experienced either repressive politics or violent conflict. Many theorists and policy-makers resolutely assume or defend the notion that ‘dealing with the past’ is where the debates about, and contribution of, the transitional justice paradigm uniquely lie.2Understood in this way, transitional justice as a field of study has grown exponentially, comprising theoretical debates, the comparative assessment of domestic accountability schemes, international criminal justice, the study of truth commissions, and ethical-legal debate concerning the morality of compromise on accountability for gross and systematic violations of human rights.This foreword, building on the previous work of its authors,3extends and expands our contention that transitional justice in this narrow sense must be located in a broader and more problematised understanding of justice in contemporary transitions. We also use the opportunity provided by this symposium to highlight an expansion of conceptual horizons being carried out at the Transitional Justice Institute (University of Ulster), and the innovative approach to the transitional justice field being advanced by a group of diverse inter-disciplinary scholars. The approach advocates both drawing on other disciplines, and firmly supporting parallel disciplinary fields to work alongside a legal research agenda; affirming the importance of rigorous cross-jurisdictional comparisons; and utilising empirical and socio-legal methodology to advance legal inquiry.

scholarly journals Archives and Transitional Justice in Chile: A Crucial Relationship

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Ferrara
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Multiple Roles ◽  
Transitional Period ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Unique Case

AbstractThe article, through the case study of Chile, explores the interconnections between archives, human rights and transitional justice. Chile represents a unique case globally for the early creation of thousands of records documenting the human rights violations committed under Pinochet’s 17-year dictatorship. In post-Pinochet Chile, the human rights archives have provided extremely important sources of evidence that have proven crucial in the development of transitional justice mechanisms. Truth commissions have, in turn, created their own archives, which have strongly contributed to later processes of reparation, justice and memory. The article aims to develop a better understanding of the multiple roles that archives have played as tools for achieving truth, justice and reparation over the long transitional period in Chile. The article argues that a combination of several factors and the intervention of different actors led to the archives having a significant impact in the development of subsequent transitional justice mechanisms.

scholarly journals A legal obligation under international law to guarantee access to abortion services in contexts of armed conflict? An analysis of the case of Colombia

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Juliana Laguna Trujillo
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Health And Human Rights ◽  
International Obligation ◽  
Women And Girls

Abstract This article discusses the existence of an international obligation for the State of Colombia to guarantee access to abortion services for women and girls who are victims of conflict-related sexual violence in the context of the Colombian armed conflict. By examining international humanitarian law rules from an international human rights law lens, it sets out the interdependence between both frameworks from reproductive health and human rights perspectives. Furthermore, the article provides considerations on the recognition and redress of these violations in the transitional justice scenario in Colombia.

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
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Transitional Societies ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
The People ◽  
Customary Practices

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.

scholarly journals Gendering transitional justice processes in Africa: a feminist advocacy approach to truth commissions

2021 ◽  
Vol 9s2 ◽  
pp. 35-52
Author(s):  
Elias O. Opongo
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
Truth Commission ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Final Report ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender

Highlighting the place and role of women in transitional justice processes draws attention to two main aspects: the need for a holistic approach to transitional justice processes, and paying attention to the sensitive nature of gender-based violence in the whole cycle of truth commissions from articulation of the mandate of the commission, composition of the commissioners, categorisation of crimes, to the writing and implementation of the final report. A feminist advocacy approach to transitional justice is framed under a critical feminist strategy that draws attention to diverse forms of human rights violations against women in situations of conflict; structures of exclusion of women�s concerns; the agency and presence of women in truth commission processes. Hence, discourse on gendering transitional justice processes has recently emerged, especially given that women have been targeted in conflict situations, giving rise to sexual and gender-based violence, and indiscriminate killing of women despite their non-combatant role. This article discusses the extent of marginalisation of cases of women�s gross human rights violations in truth commission processes, while acknowledging positive attempts made so far, through critical feminism, to include women�s concerns in these processes.

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