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111. What Do We Know about Post-Conflict Transitional Justice from Academic Research: Key Insights for Practitioners

Author:
Charlotte Fiedler and Karina Mross
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
Abstract:
Societies that have experienced violent conflict face considerable challenges in building sustainable peace. One crucial question they need to address is how to deal with their violent past and atrocities that were committed – for example, whether perpetrators should be held accountable by judicial means, or whether the focus should be laid on truth telling and the compensation of victims. Transitional justice (TJ) offers a range of instruments that aim to help societies come to terms with their history of violent conflict. Systematic, empirical analyses of TJ instruments have been emerging over the last years. This Briefing Paper summarises the policy-relevant insights they provide regarding the main TJ instruments: trials; truth commissions; reparations for victims; and amnesties.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Transitional Justice, Political Science, Peace, and Justice
Political Geography:
Colombia, Germany, and Global Focus

112. War Crimes and Punishment: The Terrain Compound Attack and Military Accountability in South Sudan, 2016–18

Author:
Flora McCrone
Publication Date:
08-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Small Arms Survey
Abstract:
On 11 July 2016, government forces stormed Terrain, a residential compound in Juba, South Sudan. Systematic violence, looting, and vandalism ensued—including one fatality, multiple incidents of rape and torture, as well as destroyed property. War Crimes and Punishment: The Terrain compound attack and military accountability in South Sudan, 2016–18, a Briefing Paper from the Small Arms Survey’s Human Security Baseline Assessment for Sudan and South Sudan (HSBA) project, examines both the attack and the subsequent special court martial that followed from May 2017 to September 2018. Despite the SPLA’s sub-par record of providing justice for victims of war crimes, the paper finds that when certain individuals and their interests align, accountability can be achieved through formal justice mechanisms.
Topic:
War Crimes, Conflict, Accountability, and Justice
Political Geography:
Africa, Sudan, and South Sudan

113. The Role of Justice in Preventing Mass Atrocities: Evolving Debates and New Directions

Author:
Kyra Fox
Publication Date:
06-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Abstract:
Scholars and practitioners agree past atrocities are a strong predictor of future atrocities within a country. 1 Given this, many argue that transitional justice--which aims to help societies deal effectively with past abuses--has an important role to play in atrocity prevention, especially in preventing the recurrence of mass atrocities. Practitioners and international justice lawyers often assume that effective transitional justice should facilitate atrocity prevention. The Preamble to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) articulates the Court’s determination to “put an end to impunity for the perpetrators of these crimes and thus to contribute to the prevention of such crimes.” A 2018 study by the UN Special Rapporteur on the 2 promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence and the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide discusses the “contribution of transitional justice to the prevention of gross violations and abuses of human rights and serious violations of international humanitarian law, particularly to the prevention of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, and their recurrence.” 3 Among scholars, the preventive capacity of transitional justice is more contentious. Debates have largely centered on the ability of prosecutions to deter potential perpetrators, and a sharp cleavage has emerged between scholars who believe in the deterrent capacity of international criminal justice and those who doubt it. Meanwhile, there has been a relative neglect of (1) transitional justice tools other than 4 prosecutions, and (2) the ways in which transitional justice tools, including prosecutions, might contribute to prevention outside their (potential) deterrent effect. As a result, policymakers and practitioners have little clear guidance about how to maximize the preventive effects of transitional justice efforts. The 2019 Sudikoff Interdisciplinary Seminar on Genocide Prevention will bring together a diverse group of practitioners and scholars to discuss how transitional justice tools (broadly defined) can potentially help prevent mass atrocities. Through the framework of systemic, structural, and operational prevention, scholars and practitioners will examine the ability of transitional justice tools to address the root causes of conflict (structural prevention), influence the calculus of potential perpetrators (operational prevention), and influence global norms (systemic prevention). Ultimately, the seminar will aim to (1) identify directions for fruitful research on the topic of transitional justice tools and atrocity prevention, and (2) generate ideas for new resources to help practitioners maximize the preventive impact of transitional justice tools.
Topic:
Genocide, Transitional Justice, Justice, and Atrocity Prevention
Political Geography:
Global Focus

114. The Role of Justice in Preventing Mass Atrocities: 2019 Sudikof Interdisciplinary Seminar on Genocide Prevention

Author:
Amanda McCaffrey and Andrew Moore
Publication Date:
06-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Abstract:
While justice may advance many goals in the context of mass atrocities, the focus of this seminar was its role in prevention and non-recurrence. The seminar took an expansive definition of justice tools, moving beyond the “transitional” justice framework to explore the potential utility of justice initiatives at all stages of atrocities. Justice interventions are not limited to efforts to prosecute perpetrators after atrocities have occurred, but can also be incorporated early on in at-risk situations and, in some cases, used to stem escalating tensions or violence. With limited scholarly or practical consensus on the role of justice in prevention and non-recurrence, domestic and international actors need to better understand which justice tools are best suited to various stages of conflict and how to design such tools to more effectively prevent and mitigate risks of atrocities. Breaking down silos between communities working on these issues—academics, international justice experts, policymakers, rule of law practitioners, atrocity prevention experts, local experts, victims, historians—is a first step to addressing this need. Participants agreed, however, that more work needs to be done to more precisely answer these questions and to cross-pollinate what research shows and translate it into practical policies, programs, and learnings that practitioners can use. The organizers framed the discussion around three distinct approaches to prevention: 1. Structural Prevention: Efforts to address underlying risk factors and root causes of atrocities in context. 2. Operational Prevention: Efforts to change the decision making processes of individual actors. 3. Systemic Prevention: Efforts to address global or transnational risks that fuel atrocities.
Topic:
Transitional Justice, Training, Justice, Atrocity Prevention, and Risk Assessment
Political Geography:
Global Focus

115. Lessons Learned from the First Generation of UN Investigative Mechanisms for Future Criminal Accountability: Considerations for CSO engagement with the United Nations Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar

Author:
Ferencz International Justice Initiative
Publication Date:
09-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Abstract:
1. The struggle for justice and accountability in Burma/Myanmar (hereinafter Myanmar1 ) has reached a milestone. Until now, concrete steps to address impunity for the most serious international crimes committed by the military—including well-documented patterns of mass atrocities indicating war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide—have largely been ad hoc, partial, or symbolic. In 2018, however, Member States of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council took the extraordinary step to pursue justice and accountability with the establishment of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM). While there is no guarantee that the IIMM process will lead to meaningful accountability, it provides the best chance to date. The engagement of CSOs with the IIMM will be an essential part of the process. 2. This Report is designed primarily to inform and assist CSOs from Myanmar that may wish to engage with the IIMM. Based on desk research and interviews with UN staff and CSOs working with similar mechanisms in other contexts, the Report aims to help CSOs from Myanmar better appreciate what to expect in terms of the risks, benefits, and the various forms of engagement with the IIMM. The Report can also assist IIMM staff to build the best possible relationship with CSOs from Myanmar. 3. The Ferencz International Justice Initiative consulted UN staff and civil society activists working at, or engaged with, the following investigative mechanisms (collectively referred to as “the Mechanisms”) 2 : • Syria: The International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism to Assist in the Investigation and Prosecution of Persons Responsible for the Most Serious Crimes Under International Law Committed in the Syrian Arab Republic Since March 2011 (Syria IIIM); • South Sudan: The Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan (CHRSS); and • Iraq: UN Investigative Team for Accountability of Da’esh (UNITAD)
Topic:
Security, United Nations, Accountability, Justice, Investigations, and Protection
Political Geography:
Southeast Asia, Myanmar, and Global Focus

116. Taking a Stand: A call to action by the church against injustice towards LGBTI people

Author:
Allan Boesak
Publication Date:
06-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Other Foundation
Abstract:
At its 2008 General Synod the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa considered a report on the church’s stand on the question of sexual orientation and nonconformity. That was a moment, in my view, in which this church, who had declared apartheid, its biblical and theological justification a heresy and led the ecumenical movement in doing the same; who in formulating in 1982, and adopting in 1986 the Belhar Confession as a new standard of faith, faced its greatest challenge since confronting apartheid. Central to the Confession are our unity in Christ; the reconciliation wrought by Christ, and the justice demanded by God. These three things. I was the convenor of that task team and presenter of the report at the synod. It was one of those utterly shattering, fundamentally life-changing experiences. After a hostile, and theologically disturbingly crude, debate, the synod rejected the report, its contents, its conclusions and its recommendations calling for justice for LGBTQI persons and referred the report for reconsideration. Even though the words, “another, more anti-gay report” were deleted from the amended version of the original proposal, the intention could not have been clearer. What was striking and shocking, even though hardly unknown in debates on this matter it seems, was the stridently hostile tone of the debate, the blatant homophobic language that dominated the discussion all through the afternoon. Speakers who took the floor did not even attempt to disguise their contempt. Some spoke openly of LGBTQI persons as “animals”, “not created by God”; of bestiality and of LGBTQI persons in one breath, all of which as being a “scandal” and “stain” upon the church. It was an experience that had left me shaken and disoriented: how could the same church that took such a strong stand against apartheid and racial oppression, gave such inspired and courageous leadership from its understanding of the Bible and the radical Reformed tradition; that had, in the middle of the state of emergency of the 1980s with its unprecedented oppression, its desperate violence and nameless fear given birth to the Belhar Confession that spoke of reconciliation, justice, unity and the Lordship of Jesus Christ, now display such blatant hatred and hypocrisy, deny so vehemently for God’s LGBTQI children the solidarity we craved for ourselves in our struggle for racial justice, bow down so easily at the altar of prejudice and bigotry?
Topic:
Human Rights, Religion, Christianity, LGBT+, Justice, and Advocacy
Political Geography:
Africa and South Africa

117. The SDG 16 and PVE Agendas: Different Currencies or Two Sides of the Same Coin?

Author:
Sanam Naraghi-Anderlini and Eric Rosand
Publication Date:
09-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN)
Abstract:
With preventing violent extremism (PVE) and promoting inclusion, access to justice, and good governance (SDG 16) on the agenda of the opening of the 74th UNGA, this policy brief highlights key challenges impeding progress on the global PVE and SDG 16 agendas, underscoring how they are two sides of the same coin. The brief highlights practical ways policy and programming conversations around these two agendas at the global and national levels can strengthen and further empower, rather than, as is sometimes the case, impede progress on locally-led action to achieve these inter-related objectives.
Topic:
United Nations, Governance, Justice, Inclusion, and Countering Violent Extremism
Political Geography:
Global Focus

118. The Hidden War: Legal Responses to Intimate Partner Violence in Fragility and Conflict

Author:
Matt Moore
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS)
Abstract:
Millions of women suffer intimate partner violence (IPV) each year in countries experiencing or emerging from war. While the international community has increasingly recognized the urgency of combating conflict-related sexual violence, much less attention has been accorded to preventing IPV and addressing its repercussions in conflict-affected settings. Addressing the full spectrum of violence in conflict entails preventing IPV and supporting IPV survivors. Recent evidence suggests that IPV prevalence can increase in some conflict settings due to the breakdown of traditional social and governance institutions, the prevalence of post-traumatic stress and harmful gender norms, and economic dislocation, among other factors. This report looks at what is known about IPV in conflict settings and focuses on one strategy to improve the situation of survivors: increasing their access to justice. The case of Liberia, a country that has contended with the legacy of conflict and attempted to use legal reforms to combat high rates of IPV, is investigated in depth.
Topic:
Women, Conflict, Justice, Intimate Partner Violence, and Gender
Political Geography:
Global Focus

119. Determinants of Violence Against Women and Justice Delivery Mechanism in Pakistan: A Historical Perspective (1977-2014)

Author:
Mahboob Alam Nutkani
Publication Date:
07-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Political Studies
Institution:
Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:
According to Human Rights Watch there are estimated to be over fourteen million child brides worldwide, many of whom are traded for debt, bondage, and in contexts where polygamy and sexual activities with children go hand in hand, justified by religion or custom.(United Nation, 2013:31) There occurs a victimization of a new rising class of feminists in countries like Pakistan, where Islamist extremism from 1977 to 1988 especially targets and instances even murders or attempts to murder women who challenge their patriarchal power base. The analysis that represents these forms of violence against women and women’s struggles for justice delivery in Pakistan by using their voices and their stories, from their frame of analysis have been failed miserably.
Topic:
History, Women, Violence, and Justice
Political Geography:
Pakistan and South Asia

120. The Cost of Justice: Exploratory Assessment on Women’s Access to Justice in Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Yemen

Author:
Sarah Barakat
Publication Date:
06-2018
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Women in the Middle East and North Africa region face challenges in their attempts to seek and get justice. Despite some promising legal awareness initiatives, mostly led by civil society, women’s knowledge of their rights and family law is limited. They lack social capital and the financial means to claim their rights, and the systems in place to provide financial support are insufficient and often ineffective. Women’s pursuit of justice is further limited by entrenched patriarchal values at community and court levels. Though some laws in the countries covered by this research have been positively amended recently, women still face discrimination in the judicial system based on their sex, their religion, and their financial status.
Topic:
Civil Society, Gender Issues, Women, and Justice
Political Geography:
Africa, Middle East, Yemen, Lebanon, Egypt, and Jordan