Conflict Resolution in the Twenty-first Century: Principles, Methods, and Approaches

Chapter Eleven: Reconciliation and Justice

151 chapter eleven Reconciliation and Justice 2333333333333 3333333333333333334 Reconciliation and justice approaches, most often seen in truth commissions (TC) and human rights trials, have emerged in recent years as one of the most visible strategies for national reconstruction of the moral and political order following civil war or repressive dictatorship. Their aim is to deal decisively with the past, particularly the legacy of massive human rights abuses, and lay the foundations for a peaceful and democratic future. Since World War II, there have been more than thirty national truth commissions, plus twenty-four special commissions of inquiry , as well as three international criminal trials—the international criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Rwanda (ICTR), and Sierra Leone (SCSL)—and more than twenty national trials (see Annan 2004; Balint 1997; Hayner 1994). More than half of these commissions and trials have taken place since 1991. Perhaps the most widely known truth commission (as well as being the best-staffed, most well-funded, and most ambitious truth commission yet), the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), was established in 1995 to investigate human rights abuses during the apartheid era. Due to its unrivaled media attention, it soon became an internationally recognized blueprint for other states emerging from war or dictatorship. Highly visible and charged with symbolism and emotion, reconciliation and justice are now a key part of the international diplomacy of intervention, often receiving widespread material and political support. Indeed, the truth commission model has become so popular that it is in danger of being perceived as some kind of magical panacea for societal reconciliation , rather than as simply one of a range of measures needed to reconstruct societies that have been torn apart by conflict (Popkin and Roht-Arriaza 1995: 80). Likewise, justice approaches and the concept of “the rule of law” have also emerged as panaceas, bolstered prominently by the well-publicized work of the ICTY and ICTR in trying high-profile suspects like former head of state Slobodan Milošević. The much-heralded establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on 1 July 2002 and its subsequent ratification by more than ninety countries has reinforced this trend. The tacit promise of stability and “the aphoristic sense that law is a prerequisite for peace have imbued the concept with an enduring appeal as a mechanism for restoring long-term stability as well as short-term order to post-conflict societies” (Mani 1998: 2). Consequently, trials, prosecutions, and special tribunals are now the almost automatic method of choice for nations emerging from war or dictatorship. Unfortunately, reconciliation and justice are still poorly understood and conceptualized, and there is as yet very little empirical evidence to properly evaluate their effectiveness (Hayner 1994: 598; Pankhurst 1999: 239). Their widespread popularity seems to be based on a priori beliefs about their efficacy and the acceptance of human rights values, rather than on any sound theoretical or empirical foundation. In this chapter we present an overview of how reconciliation and justice approaches work—their rationale, the forms they take, and their roles and functions. We also offer a more realistic assessment of their effectiveness in building peaceful societies. We argue that while reconciliation and justice are important for postconflict peacebuilding, they are in danger of being overemphasized and should be considered only one of many postconflict activities that need to be undertaken . There are in fact many problems and challenges involved in pursuing either reconciliation or justice in the aftermath of mass atrocity and human rights violations, and it is perhaps too early to say how useful these approaches really are with any degree of confidence. 33333333 The Internationalization of Justice Reconciliation and justice approaches have emerged in the context of the profound restructuring of the international system that took place at the end of the 1980s. Two key movements in particular have contributed to the spread of these methodologies of conflict resolution. First, there has been the phenomenon of what may be termed “the internationalization of justice” (Newman 2002: 32). This refers to the spread and strengthening of international human rights law and humanitarian law (seen in a growing number of international conventions and treaties—what some perceive as an emergent human rights regime), the diffusion of universal human rights values and ideals, the establishment of international war crimes tribunals and the ICC, numerous national trials of human rights abuses, the emergence of large numbers of human rights–based NGOs and an increasingly active international civil society, and the establishment of more...