scholarly journals The politics of knowledge in the emergence of the transitional justice industry in Zimbabwe: the case of the Taking Transitional Justice to the People Programme, 2009–10

2021 ◽  
pp. 120-143
Author(s):  
Shastry Njeru ◽  
Tyanai Masiya
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Politics Of Knowledge ◽  
The People

Macro/Micro Dynamics in South Africa: Why the Reconciliation Process Will Not Reduce Violence

2003 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 6-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingie Hovland
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
The People ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Reconciliation Process

The reconciliation process in South Africa has been hailed as an astounding example of a non-violent transition to democracy, and its Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has subsequently served as the starting point for reflections on reconciliation, transitional justice and the possibility of truth commissions in other countries. This article suggests that it is necessary to examine South Africa's reconciliation process more critically, focusing on why it has not brought about a reduction in the high levels of violence. It is argued that the reconciliation process has failed in this respect - despite good intentions - because it has not managed to transform the macro/micro dynamic in South Africa, i.e. the interaction between macro-level divisions and micro-level tensions which have fed off each other throughout South Africa's history. Macro-level violence has included - and still includes - economic policies that generate wealth for a minority while perpetuating the production of poverty for the majority. Micro-level violence includes extremely high levels of violent incidents at an interpersonal and local level. The use of the concept ‘reconciliation’ in post-apartheid South Africa may in certain respects have served as opium for the people - opium that has enabled continued accommodation of the interaction between macro and micro-level violence in the country.

scholarly journals Transitional justice in light of the change in the Arab region

2019 ◽  
pp. 187-212
Author(s):  
أ.م.د.دبنا هاتف مكي
Keyword(s):  
Stages Of Change ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Institutional Reform ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Arab Region ◽  
The Past ◽  
The People ◽  
New Phase

Many changes took place in a number of Arab countries, most of which ended with the change of the ruling leadership and a new coming. The same change brought about the hopes of the people to turn the page of the past into a democracy through which to overcome the grievances of previous years and achieve justice in all its aspects. The same new grievances have been added to that precedent and justice has not yet been achieved. Here we try to address the justice that is applied in the stages of change or transitional stages, which have been called, ie transitional justice, which has mechanisms and conditions of different application between countries, each of which the conditions applied in them and through a review of these mechanisms between the courts and commissions truth Compensation, reparation, cleansing and institutional reform, all in order to achieve reconciliation in which the previous stage is exceeded and the new phase begi

scholarly journals Transitional Justice in Rwanda: Analysis of Reconciliation Initiatives in Musha Village

Politologija ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 101 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-148
Author(s):  
Urtė Jakubėnaitė
Keyword(s):  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Field Trip ◽  
National Government ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
The People ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Individual

The article examines how reconciliation is perceived at the individual level. This particular case study analyses what types of reconciliation practices exist in Musha village and whether or not the inhabitants see it as effective ones. In an attempt to investigate the reconciliation definition from the local people’s perspective and to observe their community-level experiences, ethnographic fieldwork in Rwanda has been conducted. This study reveals that locals understand reconciliation in the same way as the government authorities proclaim. Data gathered during this field trip indicate the significance of reconciliation as controlled by the national government. As a consequence, the people are not able, and at the same time, are not really concerned about rethinking reconciliation in other possible ways. Furthermore, this concludes the fact that the central authorities have become able to peacefully construct the narrative of forced reconciliation, while social exclusion in the country still robustly prevails.

Traditional Justice Methods and Their Possible Impact on Transitional Justice Models in South Sudan

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 331-352
Author(s):  
Justice Benjamin Baak Deng
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
South Sudan ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
African Countries ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The People ◽  
Settlement Of Disputes ◽  
By Products

This paper discusses the legal framework of the traditional justice methods in several African countries, with a focus on South Sudan; the objective of customary law, the role of traditional courts or the forum of elders, and the methods of settlement of disputes. These methods of settlement of disputes are by-products of the practices, customs and traditions of the people that were devised as ways of maintaining peace and tranquillity, and thereby uphold the rule of law.

scholarly journals Justicia transicional y producción cultural: una cala en la transgresión literaria de los discursos institucionales de Argentina, Chile y España

2018 ◽  
pp. 3-13
Author(s):  
Luisa García-Manso
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
Legal Tradition ◽  
Truth Telling ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Cultural Productions ◽  
Legal Reforms ◽  
Derechos Humanos ◽  
The People ◽  
Selection Of

El término ‘justicia transicional’ fue adoptado en los años 90 en las Ciencias Sociales y Jurídicas para hacer referencia al conjunto de medidas emprendidas en distintos países para lidiar con legados estatales de violaciones de los derechos humanos: juicios penales, comisiones de verdad, medidas de reparación de las víctimas, políticas de memoria y diferentes formas de reforma institucional, entre otros (Greiff 18). Dichas medidas, que beben de una tradición jurídica internacional, se están efectuando de manera diferente en los diversos países implicados en la confrontación con el pasado. En este ensayo tomo como ejemplo una selección de producciones culturales argentinas, chilenas y españolas de diverso tipo —narrativa, teatro y cine documental— en las que se problematizan los vacíos dejados por las reformas políticas y legales y por la perpetuación —especialmente en los casos español y chileno— de leyes de amnistía que dilatan la impunidad de los responsables de crímenes de lesa humanidad, reconocidos por la ONU como delitos imprescriptibles. Las producciones seleccionadas para el análisis tienen como denominador común su habilidad para denunciar los huecos dejados por la norma a través de recursos formales y expresivos con los que se transgreden los discursos institucionales —e institucionalizados— sobre memoria y justicia en los tres países. The term ‘transitional justice’ is first used in the 90s in the field of Social and Legal Sciences. It "refers to the set of measures implemented in various countries to deal with the legacies of massive human rights abuses", such as "criminal prosecutions, truth-telling, reparations, and different forms of institutional reform" (Greiff 18). In the diverse countries dealing with the past, these measures, which stem from an international legal tradition, are put into practice differently. In this essay, I examine how a selection of Argentinean, Chilean and Spanish cultural productions question the gaps in the political and legal reforms. Especially in the Spanish and the Chilean cases they criticise the perpetuation of amnesty laws that grant impunity to the people responsible for crimes against humanity. From the UN perspective, those crimes are not subject to statutory limitations. The chosen cultural productions belong to different genres: narrative, theatre and documentary film. They have in common the ability to denounce the legal vacuum through formal and expressive resources that transgress the institutional —and institutionalised— discourses on memory and justice of the three countries.

scholarly journals Beyond the Contours of Normally Acceptable Political Violence: Is Cameroon a Conflict/Transitional Society in the Offing?

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Avitus A Agbor ◽  
Esther E Njieassam
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
The Political ◽  
State Action ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Transitional Society ◽  
The People ◽  
Political Problem ◽  
Republic Of The Congo

Legal scholars and other social scientists agree that political violence comprising assaults on civil and political liberties may occur in the context of contentious politics. Unfortunately, there have been instances in history where such politics is marked by intermittent attacks against people's rights and freedoms. Such attacks occur when politics has gone sour, and there are times when the violence exceeds the bounds of what is acceptable. From the documented atrocities of Nazi Germany, the horrendous crimes of the regime of Slobodan Milosevic in the former Yugoslavia, the outrageous crimes perpetrated during the genocide in Rwanda, the shameful and despicable inhumanities inflicted on the people of Darfur in the Sudan, and the violence in post-electoral Kenya, to the bloodshed in areas like Mali, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, etc, violent conflict has punctuated world history. Added to this list of countries is Cameroon, which in the last quarter of 2016 degenerated into a hotspot of political violence in the English-speaking regions. The perpetration of political violence in Cameroon has raised serious questions that may be relevant not only to the resolution of the political problem that gave rise to the violence but also to laying the foundations of a post-conflict Cameroon that is united and honours the principles of truth, justice and reconciliation. This paper describes some of the salient occurrences of political violence in Cameroon and argues that the presence of specific elements elevates this violence to the level of a serious crime in international law. It is argued herein that crimes against humanity may have been committed during the state action against the Anglophones in Cameroon. It is also argued that the political character of the violence, added to the scale of the victimisation and its systematic and protracted nature, qualify Cameroon as a transitional society engaged in conflict that is in need of transitional justice. Reflecting on the extent of the suffering of the victims of such political violence, this paper discusses the function of the justice system in establishing the truth and holding the perpetrators accountable. Past instances of political violence in Cameroon have been glossed over, but in our opinion, healing a fragmented and disunited Cameroon with its history of grave violations of human rights requires that the perpetrators be held accountable, and that truth and justice should prevail. Such considerations should be factored into the legal and political architecture of a post-conflict, transitional Cameroon.  

The Role Ubuntu Could Have Played in Restorative Justice in Zimbabwe

2021 ◽  
pp. 130-140
Author(s):  
Gibson Ncube
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Restorative Justice ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
The People ◽  
Healing Of Wounds ◽  
Justice Model ◽  
The Will ◽  
Missed Opportunity

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.

scholarly journals The performance and persistence of transitional justice and its ways of knowing atrocity

2020 ◽  
pp. 001083672096599
Author(s):  
Briony Jones
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Epistemic Community ◽  
Epistemic Communities ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Politics Of Knowledge ◽  
The World ◽  
The Way

Transitional justice, like other peacebuilding endeavours, strives to create change in the world and to produce knowledge that is useful. However, the politics of how this knowledge is produced, shared and rendered legitimate depends upon the relationships between different epistemic communities, the way in which transitional justice has developed as a field and the myriad contexts in which it is embedded at local, national and international levels. In particular, forms of ‘expert’ knowledge tend to be legal, foreign and based on models to be replicated elsewhere. Work on epistemic communities of peacebuilding can be usefully brought to bear on transitional justice, speaking to current debates in the literature on positionality, justice from below, marginalisation and knowledge imperialism. This article offers two contributions to the field of transitional justice: (1) an analysis of the way the field has developed as an epistemic community(ies) and the relevance of this for a politics of knowledge; and (2) an argument for the politics of knowledge to be more widely discussed and understood as a factor in shaping transitional justice policy and practice, and as a call to a more ethical relationship with the supposed beneficiaries of transitional justice interventions.

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