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Transitional justice is a process which responds to human rights violations through judicial redress, political reforms and cultural healing efforts and other measures in order to prevent the recurrence of human rights abuse in a region or country. Transitional
justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...
consists of judicial and non-judicial measures implemented in order to redress legacies of
human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...
abuses and foster reconciliation. Such mechanisms "include
criminal prosecution In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...
s, truth commissions, reparations programs, and various kinds of institutional reforms" as well as memorials, apologies, and various art forms. Transitional justice is instituted at a point of political transition classically from war to positive
peace Peace is a state of harmony in the absence of hostility and violence, and everything that discusses achieving human welfare through justice and peaceful conditions. In a societal sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (suc ...
, or more broadly from violence and repression to societal stability (though some times it is done years later) and it is informed by a society's desire to rebuild social trust, reestablish what is right from what is wrong, repair a fractured justice system, and build a democratic system of governance. Given different contexts and implementation the ability to achieve these outcomes varies. The core value of transitional justice is the very notion of justice—which does not necessarily mean
criminal justice Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the rehabilitation of offenders, preventing other ...
. This notion and the political transformation, such as regime change or transition from conflict are thus linked to a more peaceful, certain, and democratic future. Transitional justice in the modern era has received greater attention from both academics and policymakers. It is also widely discussed in political and legal circles, especially in transitional societies. During political transitions from authoritarian or dictatorial regimes or from civil conflicts to democracy, transitional justice has often provided opportunities for such societies to address past human rights abuses, mass atrocities, or other forms of severe trauma in order to increase the probability of a transition into a more democratic, just, peaceful future.


History

The origins of the transitional justice field can be traced back to the post- World War II period in
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
with the establishment of the International Military Tribunal at
Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...
and the various de-Nazification programs in
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
and the trials of Japanese soldiers at the Tokyo Tribunal. What became known as the " Nuremberg Trials", when the victorious allied forces extended criminal justice to Japanese and German soldiers and their leaders for
war crimes A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hos ...
committed during the war, marked the genesis of transitional justice. The field gained momentum and coherence during the 1980s and onwards, beginning with the trials of former members of the military juntas in
Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
(1975), and
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
( Trial of the Juntas, 1983). The focus of transitional justice in the 1970s and 1980s was on criminal justice with a focus on
human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...
promotion. This led to a worldwide focus and progressive rise of human rights regime culminating in the establishments of international human rights laws and conventions. The emphasis of transitional justice was on how abuses of human rights get treated during political transition: legal and criminal prosecution. As noted earlier, the universal conceptions of "justice" became the platform on which transitional justice was premised. The field in its early
epistemology Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowle ...
, thus, assumed jurisprudence of human rights. As a result, the initial literature on transitional justice was dominated by lawyers, law, and legal rights: defining laws, and processes on how to deal with human rights abuse and holding people accountable. Thus, transitional justice has its roots in both the human rights movement and in international human rights and humanitarian law. These origins in the human rights movement have rendered transitional justice "self-consciously victim-centric". The late 1980s and early 1990s saw a shift in the focus of transitional justice. Informed by the worldwide wave of democratization, particularly the third wave, transitional justice reemerged as a new field of study in democratization. Transitional justice broadened its scope from more narrow questions of
jurisprudence Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...
to political considerations of developing stable democratic institutions and renewing civil society. Studies by scholars on the transition from autocratic regimes to democratic ones have integrated the transitional justice framework into an examination of the political processes inherent to democratic change. The challenges of democratization in transitional periods are many: settling past accounts without derailing democratic progress, developing judicial or third-party fora capable of resolving conflicts, reparations, and creating memorials and developing educational curricula that redress cultural lacunae and unhealed trauma. It is clear that elements of transitional justice have broken the initial mold of post-war jurisprudence. The transitional justice framework has benefited from democratic activists who sought to bolster fledgling democracies and bring them into line with the moral and legal obligations articulated in the international human rights consensus. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have used transitional justice approaches to address Indigenous oppression. Racial justice issues in the United States have been discussed using transitional justice language. One particular innovation is the appearance of truth commissions. Beginning with Argentina in 1983, Chile in 1990, and South Africa in 1995, truth commissions have become a symbol of transitional justice, appearing in transitional societies in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe. However, several attempts to create a regional truth commission in the former
Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...
(REKOM) have failed due to political obstacles. Recent years have also seen proposals for truth and reconciliation commissions in conflict zones of the Middle East:
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
and
Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
,
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
,
Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...
, and the Kurdish regions. Another major institutional innovation is the appearance of the variety of lustration programs in Central and Eastern Europe since the 1990s. While most countries pursued programs based on dismissals of compromised personnel and comprehensive screening tools, other countries implemented more inclusive methods allowing discredited personnel a second chance. As a link between transition and justice, the concept of transitional justice transformed in the late 1940s to assume a broader perspective of comprehensive examination of the society in transition from a retrospective to a prospective position with democratic consolidation as one of the primary objectives. Scholars and practitioners of democratization have come to a common conclusion on the general principles of a transitional justice framework: that national strategies to confront past abuses, depending on the specific nature and context of the country in question, can contribute to accountability, an end to impunity, reconstruct state–citizen relations, and the creation of democratic institutions. According to the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) and the international Task Force on Justice, an integral element of the
Sustainable Development Goals The ''2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'', adopted by all United Nations (UN) members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The aim of these global goals is "peace and prosperity for people and the planet" – wh ...
(SDGs) includes the reduction of the "justice gap" The Working Group on Transitional Justice and SDG16+ said that "while the SDGs are universal", "massive and serious human rights violations create conditions in which extraordinary justice interventions are required to make progress toward sustainable peace and development."


Definitions

According to the ICTJ, the term "transitional justice" was coined by various American academics in the 1990s to "describe the different ways that countries had approached the problems of new regimes coming to power faced with massive violations by their predecessors." The ICTJ says that transitional justice "refers to the ways countries emerging from periods of conflict and repression address large-scale or systematic human rights violations so numerous and so serious that the normal justice system will not be able to provide an adequate response." Measures used include
criminal prosecution In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...
s, truth commissions, reparations and restitution programs, exhumation of mass graves, apologies, amnesty, memorials, film, literature, scientific research, rewriting school textbooks, lustration and vetting, and various kinds of institutional reforms to redress
human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...
abuses. Transitional justice has, however, undergone conceptual changes since it was first coined. The 'transitional' prefix used to indicate a form of exceptionalism whereby justice processes support a political transition. Justice processes could violate or compromise the rule of law, if they safeguarded a transition to democracy. Due to the field's normalisation, justice came to mean ordinary justice in exceptional circumstances. As the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights explained in 2009, transitional justice is 'not a particular conception of justice, such as distributive or retributive justice' but is 'rather a technical approach to exceptional challenges'.


Objectives

The primary objective of a transitional justice policy is to end the culture of
impunity Impunity is the ability to act with exemption from punishments, losses, or other negative consequences. In the international law of human rights, impunity is failure to bring perpetrators of human rights violations to justice and, as such, itsel ...
and establish the rule of law in a context of democratic governance. Transitional justice has roots in human rights protection and imputes certain humanitarian and justice obligations on states undergoing transitions. It challenges such societies to strive for a society where respect for human rights is the core and accountability is routinely practiced as the main goals. In the context of these goals, transitional justice aims at: * Halting ongoing human rights abuses; * Build social trust; * Offer dignity to victims and their families; * Investigating past crimes; * Identifying those responsible for human rights violations; * Imposing sanctions on those responsible (where it can); * Providing reparations to victims; * Preventing future abuses; * Strengthen, remake, and reform state institutions; * Security Sector Reform; * Taking steps towards the establishment of positive peace * Legitimize current state and in some cases de-legitimize the past state; * Fostering individual and national reconciliation; * Recognize victims as equal citizens; * Acknowledging the past accurately; * Help transition to a more just, equitable, peaceful, and democratic society. In general, therefore, one can identify eight broad objectives that transitional justice aims to serve: establishing the truth, providing victims a public platform, holding perpetrators accountable, strengthening the rule of law, providing victims with compensation, effectuating institutional reform, promoting reconciliation, and promoting public deliberation.


Strategies

Transitional Justice is a collection of processes used with the intention to create positive peace through methods of acknowledgement, restoration, criminal justice, and amnesties. In order to be effective, transitional justice measures should be part of a holistic approach. Some human rights abuses can result in criminal prosecutions, particularly the most serious ones. Investigations to seek the truth and fact-finding processes into human rights violations by non-judicial bodies include ''Truth Commissions''. ''Reparation programs'' can be in the form of "individual, collective, material, and/or symbolic" reparations. As a result of investigations, convictions and/or investigations, new or reformed laws may be adopted and institutions reformed, including those related to the "police, judiciary, military, and military intelligence." In some cases there are efforts to memorialization of the abuses.
Affirmative action Affirmative action (also sometimes called reservations, alternative access, positive discrimination or positive action in various countries' laws and policies) refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking ...
policies are sometimes used to facilitate transition. Gender justice ensures women have equal access to the mechanisms.


Mechanisms

The investigation and prosecution of serious international crimes, such as
genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...
, crimes against humanity, and
war crimes A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hos ...
helps to strengthen the rule of law by sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties. It also demonstrates that crime will not be tolerated, and that human rights abusers will be held accountable for their actions. From its historical roots in the Nuremberg Trials, recent examples have included
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR; ; ) was an international court, international ''ad-hoc'' court established in November 1994 by the United Nations Security Council in United Nations Security Council Resolution 955, Resolutio ...
and
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes in the Yugoslav Wars, war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to tr ...
, hybrid courts such as Special Court for Sierra Leone, Special Panels of the Dili District Court, Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the establishment of the
International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...
(ICC), assuming a
universal jurisdiction Universal jurisdiction is a legal principle that allows Sovereign state, states or International organization, international organizations to prosecute individuals for serious crimes, such as genocide, War crime, war crimes, and crimes against hu ...
. The ICC and Hybrid Courts/Tribunals are key components of prosecution initiatives:


International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court (ICC) was established by the Rome Statute in 1998. It is the first permanent international criminal court. It was established to investigate and try leaders of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in cases where countries are unable or unwilling to do so. The Rome Statute also established the Trust Fund for Victims to implement reparations and provide support for victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity tried by the ICC.


Hybrid courts and tribunals

Hybrid courts and tribunals have emerged as "third generation" courts established to investigate and prosecute human rights offenses. They follow the "first generation" Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals and the "second generation" International Criminal Court and International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia ( ICTY) and Rwanda ( ICTR). These courts consist of both international and domestic justice actors. They attempt to deliver justice that the domestic justice systems cannot provide alone due to lack of capacity or political will. Furthermore, hybrid courts attempt to strengthen domestic capacities to prosecute human rights abuses through the transfer of international legal skills and expertise. Examples include the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. The Gacaca for Rwanda was presented by the Rwandan authorities as being a hybrid system. The Special Jurisdiction for Peace in Colombia could also be considered one.


Reparations

Reparations aim to repair the suffering of victims of human rights abuses. They seek to make amends with victims, help them overcome the consequences of abuse, and provide rehabilitation. Reperations can fall along two axis, material or symbolic and individual or collective. Material reperations are the physical forms of reperations that are most commonly thought of such as money or the restoration of land. Symbolic reparations are the intangible forms reparations can take such as apologies, memorials, and commemorations. Individual repartions benefit individuals while collective reparations benefit the entire group who has suffered. They may include financial payments, social services including health care or education, or symbolic compensation such as public apologies.


Apologies

Apologies play a pivotal role in transitional justice processes by acknowledging historical injustices and fostering reconciliation within divided societies. They serve as symbolic gestures of accountability, validating the experiences of victims and survivors. Moreover, apologies contribute to the restoration of trust in institutions, paving the way for societal healing and the prevention of future conflicts. One example is the Canadian government's apology "Statement of Reconciliation" to indigenous Canadian families for removing their children and placing them in church-run Indian Residential Schools. The Canadian government also created a $350 million fund to help those affected by the schools.


Truth-seeking

Truth-seeking encompasses initiatives allowing actors in a country to investigate past abuses and seek redress for victims. These processes aim to enable societies to examine and come to terms with past crimes and
human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...
violations in order to prevent their recurrence. They help create documentation that prevents repressive regimes from rewriting history and denying the past. They can also help victims obtain closure by knowing the truth about what actually happened (such as to "disappeared" people) and understanding the atrocities they endured. Truth-seeking measures may include
freedom of information legislation Freedom of information laws allow access by the general public to data held by national governments and, where applicable, by state and local governments. The emergence of freedom of information legislation was a response to increasing dissatis ...
, declassification of archives, investigations, and truth commissions.


Truth commissions

Truth commissions are non-judicial commissions of inquiry that aim to discover and reveal past abuses by a government or non-state actors; about forty official truth commissions have been created worldwide. One example is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, which was established to help overcome apartheid and reconcile tensions in the country. Another example is the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC; []) was a truth and reconciliation commission active in Canada from 2008 to 2015, organized by the parties of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. The commission was offi ...
which was created as part of a settlement with the survivors of the Canadian Indian Residential School System.


Memory and memorials

Memorials seek to preserve memories of people or events. In the context of transitional justice, they serve to honor those who died during conflict or other atrocities, examine the past, address contemporary issues and show respect to victims. They can help create records to prevent denial and help societies move forward. Memorials may include commemoration activities, such as architectural memorials, museums, and other commemorative events. One example includes the monuments, annual prayer ceremony, and mass grave in northern
Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...
, created in response to the war conducted by and against the Lord's Resistance Army there. Another example is Fragmentos, an abstract memorial created by Doris Salcedo alongside the survivors of sexual abuse from the Colombian Conflict. It consists of 1,296 tiles made from 37 tons of melted down metal from the weapons of 13,000 former guerilla fighters to memorialize the peace agreement between the government of
Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
and FARC.


Institutional reform

Public institutions, including the
police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...
,
military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...
, and
judiciary The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...
, often contribute to repression and other human rights violations. When societies undergo a transition, these institutions must be reformed in order to create accountability and prevent the recurrence of abuse. Institutional reform includes the process of restructuring these state actors to ensure that they respect human rights and abide by the rule of law. Reforms can include measures such as vetting, lustration, and
Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR), or disarmament, demobilisation, repatriation, reintegration and resettlement (DDRRR) are strategies used as a component of peace processes, and is generally the strategy employed by all UN Peace ...
(DDR). Vetting is the process of eliminating corrupt or abusive officials from public service employment. For instance, in
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
, election candidates in the 2009 and 2010 elections were vetted. While similar to lustration, "vetting" is the broader category referring to processes aimed at screening and excluding human rights abusers from public institutions while "lustration" refers specifically to the vetting processes and laws that were implemented in the former communist countries in Eastern and Central Europe after the end of the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
. Vetting does not necessarily imply dismissals from the state apparatus. Several countries developed alternative personnel systems that provide for the inclusion of inherited personnel in exchange for their exposure or confession. DDR programs assist ex‑combatants in rejoining society. One example of institutional reform is the removal of court officials involved in crimes of the fallen Tunisian regime. Under Ben Ali's rule, courts often facilitated corruption. The removal of implicated officials is a part of the government's efforts to reconcile this abuse.


Trends and challenges

States in times of transition to democracy, since the early 1980s, have been using a variety of transitional justice mechanisms as part of measures to account for the past and build a future democratic state. Mechanisms, such as trials, truth commissions, reparations, lustration, museums, and other memory sites have been employed either single-handedly or in a combined form to address past human rights violations. Diverse studies ranging from the decision-making process of a choice of strategy through to the implementation of the transitional justice policy and impacts on the transition and future stability of the society in question have been produced by scholars in recent years. One illuminating study in particular that has documented the dramatic new trend of transitional justice and democratization is by Kathryn Sikkink and Carrie Booth Walling (2006). In their research paper described as the "justice cascade", Sikkink and Walling conducting analysis of truth commissions and human rights trials occurring throughout the world from 1979 to 2004 revealed a significant increase in the judicialization of world politics both regionally and internationally. Of the 192 countries surveyed, 34 have used truth commissions, and 50 had at least one transitional human rights trial. More than two-thirds of the approximately 85 new and/or transitional countries during that period used either trials or truth commissions as a transitional justice mechanism; over half tried some form of judicial proceedings. Thus, the use of a truth commission and/or human rights trials among transitional countries is not an isolated or marginal practice, but a widespread social practice occurring in the bulk of transitional countries. Since its emergence, transitional justice has encountered numerous challenges such as identifying victims, deciding the extent to which to punish superiors or middle agents, avoiding a "victor's justice", and finding adequate resources for compensation, trial, or institutional reform. Also, the transitional period may only result in a tenuous peace or fragile democracy. As has been noted in the discourse on transition to democracy, the dilemma has always been for new regimes to promote accountability for past abuses without risking a smooth transition to democracy. In addition, the existing judicial system might be weak,
corrupt Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...
, or ineffective, and in effect make achieving any viable justice difficult. Observers of transitional justice application and processes, such as Makau W. Mutua (2000), have emphasized the difficulties of achieving actual justice through one of the most prominent mechanisms of transitional justice, criminal trials. Commenting on the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR; ; ) was an international court, international ''ad-hoc'' court established in November 1994 by the United Nations Security Council in United Nations Security Council Resolution 955, Resolutio ...
that was established in 1994, he argued that it "serves to deflect responsibility, to assuage the consciences of states which were unwilling to stop the
genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...
... ndlargely masks the illegitimacy of the Tutsi regime". In sum, Matua argues that criminal tribunals such as those in Rwanda and Yugoslavia are "less meaningful if they cannot be applied or enforced without prejudice to redress transgressions or unless they have a deterrent effect such as behavior modification on the part of would be perpetrators". More recently, Lyal S. Sunga has argued that unless truth commissions are set up and conducted according to international human rights law, international criminal law and international humanitarian law, they risk conflicting or undermining ''criminal prosecutions'', whether these prosecutions are supposed to be carried out at the national or international levels. He contends that this risk is particularly pronounced where truth commissions employ amnesties, and especially blanket amnesties to pardon perpetrators of serious crimes. On the other hand, ''criminal prosecutions'' should be better tailored to focus on victims and to place events in proper perspective. Sunga therefore proposes ten principles for making truth and national reconciliation commissions fully complementary to ''criminal prosecutions'' in a way that conforms fully to international law. This type of critique of transitional justice mechanisms might cause some scholars and policymakers to wonder which of the objectives outlined above are most important to achieve, and even the extent to which they are achievable. Truth commissions could be characterized as a second-best alternative and also an affront to rule of law, because of the possibility that amnesty and indemnities will be made exchange for truth. These sets of challenges can raise critical questions for transitional justice in its application. Questions and issues, such as: Can the "truth" ever really be established? Can all victims be given compensation or a public platform? Can all perpetrators be held accountable? Or is it sufficient to acknowledge that atrocities were committed and that victims should be compensated for their suffering? Also, one might argue that too narrow a focus on the challenges of the field runs the risk of making transitional justice seem meaningless. However transitional justice aims at an ongoing search for truth, justice, forgiveness, and healing, and efforts undertaken within it help people to live alongside former enemies. Simply put, "the past must be addressed in order to reach the future". Thus, even if the impact or reach of transitional justice seems marginal, the end result is worth the effort. Another way of assessing attempts at transitional justice is to say that decision makers may have less control over the methods used to pursue such policies than they imagine. In fact, whatever their wishes, they may not be able to prevent such policies at all. As A. James McAdams has demonstrated in his book, ''Judging the Past in Unified Germany'' (2001), West German policymakers such as former chancellor
Helmut Kohl Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as chancellor of Germany and governed the ''Federal Republic'' from 1982 to 1998. He was leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to ...
wanted to close public access to the files of East Germany's secret police, the Stasi, but pressures from East German dissidents prevented them from doing so. Another challenge is the tension between peace and justice, which arises from the conflicting goals of achieving peace and justice in the aftermath of a society's emergence from conflict. Though it is generally acknowledged that both goals are integral to achieving reconciliation, practitioners often disagree about which goal should be pursued first: justice or peace? Proponents of the "justice" school of thought argue that if all perpetrators of human rights abuses do not stand trial, impunity for crimes will continue into the new regime, preventing it from fully completing a transition from conflict. The "peace" school of thought, however, argues that the only way to effectively end violence is by granting amnesties and brokering negotiations to persuade criminals to lay down their arms. Examples such as
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
illustrate how selective amnesties can cease conflict. Moreover, empirical research demonstrates that the level of a justice intervention affects the conditions of possibility for a negotiated solution to end civil war. Recent trends in the post-conflict field have tended to favor the "justice" school of thought, maintaining that only if justice is dutifully served to victims of the conflict can civil war will be prevented from recurring. A 2011 debate in ''
The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...
'' determined in its concluding polls that 76% of the debate participants agreed with the motion that achieving peace can occur only through implementing justice mechanisms.


Literary applications

Literary scholars and historians have begun to use the concept of transitional justice to reexamine historical events and texts. Christopher N. Warren, for instance, has applied transitional justice to pre- Restoration England, claiming that it helps explain how Anglican royalists convinced Presbyterians to assent to a restoration of the monarchy. Warren also argues that English poet John Milton "can be seen as an early critic of transitional justice," using the allegory of Sin and Death in his epic poem Paradise Lost to complicate "overly-rosy" depictions of transitional justice.


Future agenda

Although transitional justice is engulfed by many critical challenges in addition to the difficulty in measuring its impact, given the number of other factors in any given country's experience over time, human rights trials or truth commissions need not have a negative effect on human rights practices. This makes transitional justice viable, especially in this age of state-building and democracy promotion in post-conflict societies. Each state that employs transitional justice mechanisms will have to determine which mechanisms to use to best achieve the targeted goals. In order to avoid causing disappointment amongst victims, the state should also ensure that the public is well-informed about the goals and limits of those mechanisms. Sikkink and Walling's comparison of human rights conditions before and after trials in
Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
n countries with two or more trial years showed that eleven of the fourteen countries had better Political Terror Scale (PTS) ratings after trials. Latin American countries that had both a truth commission and human rights trials improved more on their PTS ratings than countries that only had trials. These statistics indicate that transitional justice mechanisms are associated with countries' improving their human rights practices. Transitional justice shows no signs of decreasing in use. Indeed, the incorporation of transitional justice policies, tools and programs in peacebuilding and democratization process operations by the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
(UN) and in the programs by many local and international democracy promotion organizations, including, the Stockholm-based International Institute for Electoral Assistance and Democracy (International IDEA) and a host of others as well as the establishments of other international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) and networks such as the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ),
Institute for Justice and Reconciliation The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR) is a Non-governmental organization, non-governmental organisation and think tank based in Cape Town, South Africa. It was forged out of the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Af ...
(IJR) and th
African Transitional Justice Research Network
(ATJRN) and research centers like the Transitional Justice Institute are strong manifestations of how well placed transitional justice has become a feature in the discourse of transitional politics in the 21st century. Academic publications such as the '' International Journal of Transitional Justice'' are also contributing towards building an interdisciplinary field with the hope that future innovations are tailored to a specific state's situation and will contribute towards political transitions that address the past as well as establish guarantees for respect of human rights and democracy. The mainstreaming of transitional justice, the many toolkit publications, manuals, and workshops as well as the common conceptualisations used across national, regional and international policy programmes indicate that the field of transitional justice has become standardised. This is curious given the field's emphasis of context-sensitive justice processes. The
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...
's "2011 World Development Report on Conflict, Security, and Development" links transitional justice to security and development. It explores how countries can avoid cycles of violence and emphasizes the importance of transitional justice, arguing that it is one of the " signaling mechanisms" that governments can use to show that they are breaking away from past practices. It also argues that transitional justice measures can send signals about the importance of accountability and to improve institutional capacity. In September 2011, the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) published a report advocating the need to understand traditional transitional justice measures from a child's perspective. The report identifies children as a large demographic too often excluded from traditional transitional justice measures.


Major cases

* ''Loayza–Tamayo v. Peru'', 1998 Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. (ser. C) No. 42 (November 27, 1998) * ''Garrido and Baigorria v. Argentina'', 1998 Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. (ser. C) No. 39, 72 (August 27, 1998) * ''Moiwana Community v. Suriname'', 2005 Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. (ser. C) No. 124, 100 (June 15, 2005)


See also

* Conciliation Resources * Universal justice * '' Vergangenheitsbewältigung'' * Pact of Forgetting *
Restorative justice Restorative justice is a community-based approach to justice that aims to repair the harm done to victims, offenders and communities. In doing so, restorative justice practitioners work to ensure that offenders take responsibility for their ac ...


References


Bibliography

* * Daniele Archibugi and Alice Pease, ''Crime and Global Justice: The Dynamics of International Punishment'', Cambridge: Polity Press, 2018. * Bickford, Louis N. (2005), "Transitional Justice," in The Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity Vol. 3 (Macmillan Library Reference), https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2004_2009/documents/fd/droi20060828_definition_/droi20060828_definition_en.pdf ISBN 0028658485; ISBN 978-0028658483 * Brechtken, Magnus; Bułhak, Władysław; Zarusky, Jürgen, eds. (2019): ''Political and transitional justice in Germany, Poland and the Soviet Union from the 1930s to the 1950s''. Göttingen: Wallstein Göttingen, 2019 * The final chapter of this book is available online at * David, Roman. ''Lustration and Transitional Justice'', Philadelphia: Pennsylvania University Press, 2011. * Gissel, Line Engbo (2022)
"The Standardisation of Transitional Justice."
''European Journal of International Relations'' 28(4), pp. 859–884. * Kritz, Neil, ed. (1995). ''Transitional Justice: How Emerging Democracies Reckon with Former Regimes, Vols. I–III''. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Institute of Peace Press. * McAdams, A. James (2001). "Judging the Past in Unified Germany." New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. * Martin, Arnaud, ed. (2009). ''La mémoire et le pardon. Les commissions de la vérité et de la réconciliation en Amérique latine''. Paris: L'Harmattan. * Mendez, Juan E. (1997). "Accountability for Past Abuses." ''Human Rights Quarterly'' 19:255. * Mouralis, Guillaume (2014). "The Invention o
"Transitional Justice" in the 1990s"
In
Dealing with Wars and Dictatorships
', ed. Liora Israël and Guillaume Mouralis, The Hague: Springer / Asser Press, pp 83–100. * Murithi, Tim (2016). ''The Politics of Transitional Justice in the Great Lakes Region''. Johannesburg: Jacana Media. * Furtado, Henrique T. (2022). ''Politics of Impunity: Torture, the Armed Forces and the Failure of Justice in Brazil''. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press * Nino, Carlos S. (1996). ''Radical Evil on Trial.'' New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press * Omondi, Elias & Tim Murithi (2022). Elections, Violence and Transitional Justice in Africa. London: Routledge. * Osiel, Mark J. (1997). ''Mass Atrocity, Collective Memory, and the Law.'' New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers. * Lavinia Stan, ed., ''Transitional Justice in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union: Reckoning with the Communist Past'', London: Routledge, 2009. * Simić, Oliveira (2016). ''An Introduction to Transitional Justice'', Routledge. * Teitel, Ruti (2000). ''Transitional Justice'', Oxford University Press. * Zalaquett, Jose (1993). "Introduction to the English Edition." In ''Chilean National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation: Report of the Chilean National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation'', trans. Phillip E. Berryman. South Bend, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press.


External links


United Nations Rule of Law: Transitional Justice
on the relationship between transitional justice, the
rule of law The essence of the rule of law is that all people and institutions within a Body politic, political body are subject to the same laws. This concept is sometimes stated simply as "no one is above the law" or "all are equal before the law". Acco ...
and the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
. * Further resources on transitional justice can be found at th
International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ)
web page.
Institute for Justice and Reconciliation
{{Authority control Human rights International law Philosophy of law Reconciliation Peace mechanisms