scholarly journals RECONCILIATION IN ZIMBABWE: THE CONFLICT BETWEEN A STATE-CENTRED AND PEOPLECENTRED APPROACH

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Murambadoro ◽  
Cori Wielenga
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Human Security ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Community Members ◽  
State Security ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
High Level ◽  
National Reconciliation

Reconciliation has become an integral part of the post-conflict peacebuilding process, and has come to be seen as an integral part of sustaining peace and security, particularly at the local level. The tension between a state security and human security approach to peacebuilding is particularly evident in national reconciliation and transitional justice processes. There is a continued emphasis on high-level reconciliation processes and the reconciliation of elite actors over processes that facilitate reconciliation at the  community level. This article explores this in the case of Zimbabwe, where the emphasis is on a state-based approach to resolving conflict, which fails to take into account or address the needs and issues that affect local communities. Drawing from fieldwork undertaken in Matabeleland in April, 2014, this article describes what community members identify as their central needs when it comes to reconciliation, within the context of the state-driven processes that have been implemented to date.

(Re-)Building the World: Local Agency and Human Security in the New Millennium

2017 ◽  
pp. 247-266
Author(s):  
Trudy Fraser
Keyword(s):  
Nation Building ◽  
Human Security ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Local Models ◽  
Initial State ◽  
Mass Violence ◽  
State Security ◽  
The World ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
Local Actors

The ‘rebuilding’ of a society in the aftermath of conflict or mass violence often subsumes the dynamic requirements of human security into a technical task that belies or fails to fully comprehend the needs of the community being ‘built’. Indeed, as Trudy Fraser in Chapter Ten explains, critics have suggested that ‘building’ in the aftermath of conflict merely serves to impose externally configured normative benchmarks as a panacea for peace, privileging the goals of international actors at the expense of local actors. One of the main problems is that externally configured normative benchmarks do not necessarily conform to local models of peace and security. In order for the ‘building’ to be reflective of the dynamic requirements of human security, this chapter asserts that it must be responsive to the following questions: (1) who is doing the building?; (2) what is being built?; and (3) for whom is it being built? These three questions speak to separate but interrelated issues in the context of modern state-, peace- and nation-building, and highlights the ambiguity that currently exists between the initial (state-security-centric) and subsequent (human-security-centric) phases of intervention and ‘(re-)building’.

Examining victims and perpetrators in post-conflict Nepal

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvette Selim
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Community Members ◽  
State Support ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The Way

The transitional justice (TJ) agenda in Nepal has been largely circumscribed by TJ experts, brokers and implementers. While participation provides avenues for victims, among others, to be involved in TJ processes, many actors, including victims, will engage in participatory activities according to their own interests. Yet, we must ask, who are considered victims? Who determines whether someone is a victim and what implications, if any, does this determination have and what do victims want? This article examines the ‘victim’ label in Nepal. I argue that victimhood is often connected with state support. I also argue that the way TJ scholars and practitioners identify victims, based on the harm caused, does not always align with the way community members perceive victimhood, which is often based on suffering.

Resisting Displacement amid Armed Conflict: Community-Level Conditions that Make People More Likely to Stay

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 68-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Krakowski
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Social Resources ◽  
Collective Decision ◽  
Collective Decision Making ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Dual Effect ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Game Theoretic

The paper examines conditions under which communities threatened by armed groups amid the Colombian civil war are most likely to resist displacement. Using a game-theoretic framework and quantitative data, the paper shows that the threatened communities which expect rescue from an armed actor are more likely to resist displacement than those communities which expect no help. Community cohesion has a dual effect on displacement. The amount of peer support among community members reduces their chances to resist displacement, but the extent to which community members are involved in collective decision-making processes makes them less likely to displace. These findings reveal that both displaced communities and those that resisted displacement possess crucial social resources for their post-conflict recovery and development, such as cohesion and strong bonds of solidarity. The paper stresses the importance of local-level organisation coordinating collective decision-making to guarantee the most efficient use of these resources.

scholarly journals The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia: The Promise and Reality of Reconciliation in Croatia

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Parker
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Local Level ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
International Community ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
State And Local

The international community is increasingly interested in promoting post-conflict reconciliation in a variety of forms, with trials and truth commissions featured most prominently. The contemporary academic discussion over transitional justice (and the practice of transitional justice itself) is largely focused on whether and how these types of large-scale national transitional justice mechanisms contribute to reconciliation. This article examines the promise and reality of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to contribute to national reconciliation. Ultimately, the ability of state-wide policies to contribute to reconciliation rests on the active participation of local level actors. This requires political backing at the state and local level beyond that of just the international community. More attention needs to be paid to domestic cultural factors in the initial decision to implement state-wide transitional justice procedures, and bottom-up mechanisms must be built into any large scale approach to reconciliation.

scholarly journals Reconciliation Processes In Rwanda. The Importance of Tradition and Culture for Transitional Justice

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 83-98
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Myl
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
The Past ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
Local Tradition ◽  
Transitional Processes

In 1994, Rwanda suffered one of the worst genocides in history. It is estimated that up to 1,000,000 people were killed in the 100 days of mass slaughter. In 2019, 25 years after the atrocities, Rwanda and Rwandans are still involved in transitional processes aimed at rebuilding the country, handling the past crimes and, ultimately, achieving reconciliation. In the first part of the paper the significance of the reconciliation is elaborated. Reconciliation is often presumed to be one of the main goals for transitional justice and an essential element for rebuilding peace and security in post-conflict countries. It is also the process during which victims and perpetrators attain or restore a relationship and heal their trauma. In the second part of the paper, the importance of local tradition and cultures for transitional justice is discussed. The attention is paid to gacaca courts, reconciliation villages and umuganda, and to their roles in achieving reconciliation in Rwanda.

Part I International Law and Global Security, Ch.1 The Concept of Security in International Law

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
White Nigel D ◽  
Davies-Bright Auden
Keyword(s):  
National Security ◽  
International Law ◽  
Human Security ◽  
Collective Security ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Political Literature ◽  
State Security ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
And Function

This chapter traces the development of ‘security’ in international legal discourse from State security, to collective security, to human security, in order to understand whether there has been a change of emphasis or, in fact, a deepening of security. National security focuses on the safety of the nation-State, which necessitates placing national interests over collective interests. Collective security marks a transition in that the more national interests become diluted, the more centralized a response becomes, and the concept of threats to peace and security is broadened to include events within States that have international repercussions. The chapter considers the debates about ‘security’ at a conceptual level, drawing on legal and political literature, and then sets them against developments in practice to see if a conclusion can be drawn on the precise nature and function of ‘security’ in international law. It addresses the question of whether ‘peace’ and ‘security’ are, or should be seen as, norms of international law. The lack of formal legal definition of security signifies that subjective views, particularly intersubjective understandings of security, have facilitated the breakdown of the State–human security divide. The chapter looks at the implications for this as security moves from being the primary purpose of international law and institutions to becoming a primary norm.

Perspectives from the Ground

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaymelee J. Kim
Keyword(s):  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Ground Level ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Anthropological Study ◽  
Negative Perceptions ◽  
Justice Studies

While traditionally underrepresented in transitional justice studies, anthropological study of culture, ethnography, and processes can contribute valuable insight into colonial bureaucracies and dynamics of power. This article uses an ethnographic approach and a colonial bureaucratic violence theoretical foundation to analyze negative perceptions of transitional justice at the ground level. Participants included facilitators, government officials, nonprofit organizations, and Indigenous community members; research occurred during implementation of transitional justice (2011–2014) for a period of 12 months. Specifically, I argue that the relationship between transitional justice and colonial bureaucratic violence encourages negative views of transitional justice. Instead, ethnographic data first reveals that bureaucratic processes within transitional justice challenge Indigenous identities. Second, Indigenous survivors in British Columbia, Canada, largely view transitional justice on a continuum of colonial bureaucratic violence. Using a colonial bureaucratic violence framework, this article provides insight and nuance into perceptions of transitional justice at the local level.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights under the 2010 Constitutional Dispensation

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-226
Author(s):  
Bonolo Ramadi Dinokopila ◽  
Rhoda Igweta Murangiri
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
National Commission ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
Institutional Perspective ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
National Human ◽  
The Status ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights

This article examines the transformation of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) and discusses the implications of such transformation on the promotion and protection of human rights in Kenya. The article is an exposition of the powers of the Commission and their importance to the realisation of the Bill of Rights under the 2010 Kenyan Constitution. This is done from a normative and institutional perspective with particular emphasis on the extent to which the UN Principles Relating to the Status of National Institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles, 1993) have been complied with. The article highlights the role of national human rights commissions in transformative and/or transitional justice in post-conflict Kenya. It also explores the possible complementary relationship(s) between the KNCHR and other Article 59 Commissions for the better enforcement of the bill of rights.

BAPA+40: South African and African Lessons

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arina Alexandra Muresan
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Buenos Aires ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Global South ◽  
Communications Systems ◽  
Transfer Of Technology ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
Multi Stakeholder ◽  
High Level ◽  
Made In

The Second High-Level United Nations (UN) Conference on South-South Cooperation (also known as BAPA+40), held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 20 to 22 March 2019, promised to reinvigorate efforts to further achieve and implement South-South cooperation (SSC). Forty years on, the Global South is shaping its image as a solutions provider. Immense strides have been made in improving access to allow a multitude of state and non-state actors to cooperate, while broadening and deepening modes of cooperation and facilitating the exchange of knowledge and transfer of technology, thus moving beyond the simplistic view that developing countries require aid to function and move forward. However, noting these symbolic strides, the Global South should move forward by building understanding of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) frameworks; integrating multi-stakeholder models; improving the visibility of peace and security in South-South programming; and building effective communications systems.

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