scholarly journals Transitional justice discourse in post-conflict societies in Africa: introduction

2021 ◽  
Vol 9s2 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Elias O. Opongo
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
Truth Telling ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Conflict Resolution Strategies ◽  
New Vision ◽  
Democratic Spaces

Post-conflict reconstruction has emerged as one the major issues of concern in Africa in the last three decades. Since the end of the Cold War following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, many African countries embraced multiparty systems that expanded democratic spaces. With this came the claim to justice and consciousness on the need to reconstruct a new vision of the nation, a vision that is based on social cohesion. This led to calls for democratisation in a number of African countries as well as in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and, in particular, former Soviet Union countries. In Africa, the approach taken by different countries varied from elaborate transitional justice processes that involved truth commissions to national dialogue processes that called for political compromise without putting into place any formal transitional justice process. The articles in this supplementary issue on transitional justice discourse in post-conflict societies in Africa draw attention to diverse contextual issues on post-conflict reconstruction in the continent. These articles bring together divergent discourses, experiences, theorisations, and interpretations of transitional processes while calling for a new way of assessing truth-telling processes within the purview of legal frameworks, gender and cultural sensitivities, peace sustainability, and conflict resolution strategies in Africa. The articles open up debate on the extent to which transitional justice processes contribute to peace and sustainability in Africa, and what could be done to improve this important post-conflict reconstruction initiative.

Dissident Voices in International Criminal Law

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 673-689 ◽  
Author(s):  
MIKAEL BAAZ
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Moral Agent ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The Cold War

Since the end of the Cold War, societies from the former Soviet Union and others throughout Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America have overthrown dictators and other authoritative rulers in the hope of allowing democracy, the rule of law, and human rights. In some cases, the change has been violent and drawn out, while in other cases the change has been quick and (more or less) non-violent. Regardless of whether the change has been violent or not, a crucial question during and after transition is: In what ways should post-authoritarian and/or post-conflict societies deal with their ‘evil’ past in order to ‘enable the state itself to [once again] function as a moral agent’? This question constitutes the very core of what is known as ‘transitional justice’ (TJ).

Conclusion: Evaluating Post-Communist Transitional Justice

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia M. Horne
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Social Trust ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
Trust Building ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Public Disclosures ◽  
Communist Countries

Unlike the blanket criticisms or accolades transitional justice measures receive in the literature, we are confronted with the reality of divergent and contingent relationships between transitional justice measures like lustration, public disclosures, and truth commissions and political and social trust-building goals. These findings force us to reconsider policy recommendations associated with transitional justice programs both because of possibly contrary outcomes, and due to previously unconsidered temporal conditions. With respect to comparative democratization, this study demonstrated a potentially important democracy promotion effect from transitional justice measures meriting continued exploration. This retrospective of nearly twenty-five years of transitional justice in Central and Eastern Europe and parts of the former Soviet Union contributes to the growing body of knowledge on regional regime change, with special attention to how issues of complicity, trust building, and nostalgia constitute unique challenges faced by former communist countries.

scholarly journals Restorative Justice in Transitional Sierra Leone

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydia Apori Nkansah
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
Truth Telling ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Sierra Leonean ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The People ◽  
Conflict Reconciliation

Intense debate surrounds truth commissions as to their mission, perceived roles and outcomes. This paper seeks to contribute to the understanding of truth commissions in post-conflict settings. It examines the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) for Sierra Leone, the first truth commission to be engaged concurrently with a retributive mechanism, the Special Court for Sierra Leone for transitional justice. The study finds that the TRC provided an opening for conversation in Sierra Leonean communities to search for the meanings of truth about the conflict. In this way the communities simultaneously created an understanding of the situation and set reconciliation directions and commitment from the process of creative conversation.  This notwithstanding, the TRC did not have the needed public cooperation because the people were not sure the war was over and feared that their assailants could harm them if they disclosed the truth to the TRC. The presence of the Special Court also created tensions and fears rendering the transitional environment unfriendly to the reconciliation and truth telling endeavors of the TRC. The study has implications for future truth commissions in that the timing for post-conflict reconciliation endeavors should take into consideration the state of the peace equilibrium of the societies involved. It should also be packaged for harmonious existence in a given transitional contexts, particularly where it will coexist with a retributive mechanism.

Transitional Justice without Transition

2020 ◽  
pp. 397-446
Author(s):  
Beth Van Schaack
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Institutional Reform ◽  
International Community ◽  
Political Transition ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
Truth Telling ◽  
Historical Case ◽  
Reconstruction Process ◽  
History Of ◽  
Justice Process

The penultimate chapter offers a discussion of the prospects for a genuine transitional justice process in Syria. Chapter 10 begins with a short history of the development of the archetypal tools within the transitional justice toolkit—criminal accountability, truth commissions, reparations, amnesties, lustration, institutional reform, and guarantees of nonrecurrence—and the way in which transitional justice efforts have become increasingly internationalized. This enhanced involvement of the international community in promoting transitional justice reflects the belief—premised on historical case studies and emerging empirical research—that societies in transition must address the crimes of the past in some capacity or risk their repetition. The chapter surveys the most recent research testing these claims, which has benefited from the creation of a number of new databases gleaned from states in transition. The chapter then describes ways in which the international community has tried to prepare for a future transitional justice process in Syria even in the absence of a political transition, including by training Syrian advocates, surveying Syrian communities to understand their knowledge of transitional justice and preferences for Syria, promoting psychosocial rehabilitation and solidarity among victims, and preparing for truth-telling exercises and institutional reform measures. The conclusion suggests ways in which the international community could still promote some form of transitional justice as part of the reconstruction process, even if Assad remains in power, which seems increasingly likely.

scholarly journals Prospects for the Implementation of Transitional Justice in Ukraine

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oleksandra CHUBINIDZE
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
Institutional Reforms ◽  
Modern Approach ◽  
Military Conflict ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Official Statement ◽  
Legal Model ◽  
Historical Truth ◽  
First Time

The study examines the features of transitional justice. The author gives definitions and goals of this concept. As it was noted by the scientists Ovcharenko and Shcherbaniuk, transitional justice includes judicial and extrajudicial mechanisms, such as prosecution, compensation, truth commissions, institutional transformations, and a combination of the above. For the first time, the content, main elements, and mechanisms of transitional justice are described in detail, which is considered in the context of the simultaneous transformation of Ukrainian society from an authoritarian past to a democratic present and from military conflict to post-conflict. Referring to Arkadiy Bushchenko (2017) transitional justice, as a model of society's transition from authoritarian to democratic, and from armed conflict to post-conflict, is currently the most modern approach to solving the problems that Ukraine has been dealing with since the end of 2013. Therefore, given this understanding, there is a prospect of developing a national legal model for the implementation of the basic principles of transitional justice. With the ultimate goal of the process of reconciliation in society, the concept of transitional justice involves the simultaneous operation of the state in four areas: effective criminal prosecutions, reparations, institutional reforms, and official statement of historical truth.

scholarly journals Transitional Justice in South Africa and Brazil: Introducing a Gendered Approach to Reconciliation

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 82-107
Author(s):  
G. Nelaeva ◽  
N. Sidorova
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
General Question ◽  
Truth Telling ◽  
South African Society ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
The Past ◽  
Formal Procedure ◽  
Post War

The concept of transitional justice has been associated with the periods of political change when a country emerges from a war or turmoil and attempts to address the wrongdoings of the past. Among various instruments of transitional justice, truth commissions stand out as an example of a non-judicial form of addressing the crimes of the past. While their setup and operation can be criticized on different grounds, including excessive politization of hearings and the virtual impossibility of meaningfully assessing their impact, it has been widely acknowledged in the literature that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa can be regarded as a success story due to its relatively strong mandate and widespread coverage and resonance it had in South African society. We would like to compare this commission from the 1990s with a more recent example, the Brazilian National Truth Commission, so as to be able to address the question of incorporation of gendered aspects in transitional justice (including examination of sexual violence cases, representation of women in truth-telling bodies, etc.), since gender often remains an overlooked and silenced aspect in such initiatives. Gendered narratives of transitional justice often do not fit into the wider narratives of post-war reconciliation. A more general question addressed in this research is whether the lack of formal procedure in truth commissions facilitates or hinders examination of sexual crimes in transitional settings.

Rule of Law, Security, and Transitional Justice in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Societies

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anja Mihr ◽  
Chandra Sriram Lekha
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
Security Sector ◽  
The Past ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Knowing That ◽  
The Many

States are expected to provide both security and justice for their citizens; one needs the other in order to work well. Yet when both are damaged or destroyed by war, state actors and outsiders alike tend to treat them as competing post-conflict priorities. Over the past twenty years, numerous processes have emerged to promote one or both, including “transitional justice”—from courts and truth commissions to community reconciliation—and programs to restore rule of law, reform the “security sector” (SSR) and disarm, demobilize, and reintegrate fighters into society (DDR). The many actors involved have just as many, sometimes competing, operational priorities, knowing that change is urgent, but necessarily long-term. This chapter examines the interaction of transitional justice, rule of law, SSR, and DDR, identifying key concepts, actors, processes, and challenges in pursuing change in each of these areas simultaneously.

Why Political Appointments to Truth Commissions Cause Difficulties for these Institutions: Using the Crisis in the Transitional Justice Process in Nepal to Understand How Matters of Legitimacy and Credibility Undermine Such Commissions

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 444-470
Author(s):  
Jeremy Sarkin ◽  
Ram Kumar Bhandari
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
Moral Integrity ◽  
Divided Societies ◽  
The Past ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The World ◽  
Justice Process ◽  
Political Appointments

Abstract Over five decades and with dozens of examples of truth commissions to look back on, an undeniable aspect of their legacy is that the world has become far more focused on dealing with the past and uncovering the truth about past atrocities. While there is typically a focus in the literature on the more widely publicized and famous truth commissions, scores of other processes have taken place, especially since the 1990s. Post-conflict or divided societies have designed institutions in ways that achieve specific objectives but at the same time conform to international standards, creating a reputation of being both democratic and accountable. Using the prism of Nepal, this article examines why the process to establish transitional justice mechanisms, and specifically truth commissions, needs to be legitimate and credible for them to be effective and be impactful. It specifically examines issues relating to appointments to such institutions and why such appointments need to be done independently and not overtly politically. It scrutinizes why appointment mechanisms and processes are so important to enhancing the legitimacy and independence of such bodies. The case of Nepal is used as an example to extrapolate conclusions about the problems that affected its processes, and the various crises that have emerged in those processes. The article argues that commissioners ought to be chosen on the basis of their impartiality, moral integrity, and known commitment to human rights and disclosure of the truth. This is essential to ensure that the process is seen to be independent and credible.

Performing Transitional Justice

2021 ◽  
pp. 169-186
Author(s):  
Angela Impey
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Fragile States ◽  
Truth Telling ◽  
Protracted Conflict ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Public Hearings ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Critical Scrutiny ◽  
Societal Problems

This chapter invites critical scrutiny of the role of performance ethnography in development praxis, focusing specifically on the place of ethnomusicology in current discourses about alternative frameworks for transitional justice in post-conflict and fragile states. The paper responds to the increasing appeal in transitional justice literature for legal pluralism and reflects on the challenges and opportunities that traditional justice strategies pose for many of the fundamental assumptions that currently underlie post-conflict rule-of-law work. Taking direction from Brown et al. (2011) and Mignolo (2013), who call for imaginative “delinking” from current epistemic hegemonies in seeking solutions to pressing societal problems, the chapter argues for greater consideration of culture in responding to the multidimensional legacies of protracted conflict (Rush & Simić 2014). Drawing on research on Dinka ox-songs in South Sudan—a country that emerged from half a century of civil war with Sudan, but remains profoundly destabilized by internecine violence—the paper argues that in their capacity as public hearings, ox-songs offer locally embedded judicial instruments or “justice rituals” (Rossner 2013) of narration, listening, and understanding, opening discursive spaces for the expression of multiple public positions and forms of agency. While songs recount individual, clan, or community memories within the context of culturally legitimate expressive spaces, they equally reveal potentially incompatible rejoinders to social justice, forgiveness, and inclusivity, thus supporting new pathways for hybrid or plural frameworks for truth-telling, justice, and reparative outcomes.

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