Transitional Justice

Transitional Justice Programme in the Great Lakes

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In collaboration with local partners, and with the support of the United States Institute for Peace, FEWER-Africa will begin a project assessing the state and role of Transitional Justice in the Great Lakes region.

In order to understand how the reconstruction of rule of law can contribute to the consolidation of peace in the Great lakes Region, it is imperative to understand the nature of the existing mechanisms that are used by the population to address conflict. There is a noticeable gap between current initiatives aimed at supporting the emergence of the rule of law and the conflicts they are intended to address.

The history of Rwanda since the 1994 genocide and the ongoing reconstruction of the social and economic fabric of society is testimony to the complex balance between justice and peace that exists in post-conflict societies. Meanwhile, in the case of DRC, the population stands firm in an informal state.

Confronted for years and years with the deliquescence of the state to provide public services (security, justice, health, education) the population has created extensive informal structures to survive. Questions of justice need to walk a delicate line between addressing impunity and acknowledging local perspectives (les voix de la colline) of conflict dynamics.

This project aims to provide practical recommendations to international and national policymakers on the role of customary, informal and institutional justice mechanisms in Rwanda and the DRC. The project will examine questions of jurisdiction between formal and customary systems through a comparative analysis of the Gacaca system in Rwanda and informal mechanisms of adjudication in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A regional approach will serve to better understand the possible opportunities and challenges of the establishment of post-conflict justice structures, as well as to support a space for dialogue between policy makers from each country

To read the project description please click below:
Legal Pluralism (14 December 2006: 124kb)


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