Introduction to Transitional Justice

This course introduces the concept of transitional justice. It seeks to familiarize participants with the legal and ethical frameworks necessary for understanding, and critically engaging with, this ever-expanding field. What is transitional justice? Where does it come from? What is it and who is it for? How is it done? By which principles, norms and practices is it informed? In addressing these basic questions, the course proceeds in three parts. Part one provides an introductory discussion of the concept of transitional justice, its legal framework, and its mechanisms. Part two explores the regionalization of transitional justice in the African and Latin American contexts. Lastly, part three examines transitional justice practice through the lens of interdisciplinary studies on various contemporary issues in the field.

Victims and Human Rights Law

This course aims to provide students with the foundations of international human rights law (IHRL) as well as with an understanding of transitional justice from a human rights law perspective. It will begin by laying the foundations of IHRL (both norms and machinery), including civil and political as well as economic, social, and cultural rights. This introduction to IHRL will ensure that students are able to make the necessary connections between this branch of international law, victims’ rights, and transitional justice, and learn well the tools available within it to work on transitional justice issues.

International Law and Transitional Justice: Mapping the Terrain

This introductory course provides a mapping of the various fields of international law in order to give students a birds’ view on the relevant legal frameworks, their main rules relevant for transitional justice processes, their respective scopes of application, and their implementation mechanisms. The course will also look at state responsibility as a way to implement state obligations as opposed to individual criminal responsibility. The course serves as a basis for the more specialized courses of the MTJ programme on the various substantive fields of law, (i.e. international criminal law, displacement and international law, and human rights law). Throughout the course, a series of peace agreements, used in a broad sense, will be looked at in order to ascertain the practical relevance of the international legal frameworks that apply in transitions.

The Foundations of International Criminal Justice as a Component of Transitional Justice

Criminal justice is an important component of transitional justice. It involves the identification of individual perpetrators and their punishment, generally by significant periods of detention. This course addresses the aims and functioning of criminal justice, with a special focus on actors and institutions at the international level. In exploring the theoretical and practical dimensions of criminal justice, the course critically examines its place in transitional justice processes as well as its challenges and potential limitations when it comes to achieving democracy and peace.

Displacement and International Law

This course will explore the interlinkages between displacement and transitional justice from the angle of public international law. The two fields are closely interconnected as transitional justice seeks to address human rights violations that are the main cause of displacement. Likewise, displaced persons are recognized by the international community as key actors of transitional justice and reconciliation in post-conflict settings. Despite their obvious interactions, the fields of displacement and transitional justice have remained largely disconnected from each other in both law and practice. This has been exacerbated by the fragmentation of the applicable legal regime among a broad range of instruments and disciplines (human rights law, humanitarian law, refugee law, criminal law). Against this background, this course will provide a holistic approach to unpack the broad variety of international legal norms governing displacement and transitional justice. It will discuss the intersections between the two fields with a focus on the most salient issues at stake, including return and reintegration; restitution and reparation; displacement as a crime of international law; as well as the inclusion of refugees and internally displaced persons in formal and informal processes of criminal justice.

Truth Commissions

Truth Commissions are an integral part of the transitional justice vocabulary and practice. In countries as varied as Peru, South Africa, Timor-Leste, Tunisia, Kenya and Brazil, truth commissions have been set up to investigate patterns of past human rights violations. This course will provide a comprehensive, multidimensional and practical examination of this transitional justice mechanism, shedding light on both its aims and practical challenges. It will address practically relevant questions on how to set up a truth  commission and the different roles such commissions can play in addressing both individual and collective violations and promoting guarantees of non-recurrence.

Violence, Memory and Transitional Justice

There has been a rush to commemorate human rights abuses globally, often referred to as memorialisation. This entails the establishment of memorial museums, statues, annual ceremonies, the renaming of streets or naming of state and educational institutions after victims, and the documenting and archiving of human rights abuses through transitional justice mechanisms. This course aims to critically examine these initiatives undertaken by international, state and civil society actors. It adopts a critical, interdisciplinary perspective to unravel the complexities, tensions and implications of memorialisation in transitional contexts. The course draws on a range of case studies, including Chile, Peru, Rwanda and Bosnia, to explore live debates in scholarship and practice concerning ‘localising memory’, the so-called ‘politics of memory’ and how far memory initiatives might contribute to, or even hinder, transitional justice processes.

Peacebuilding

This course focuses on the intersection between peacebuilding and transitional justice. Peacebuilding relies on dialogue and engagement among various segments of society to establish shared understandings of the social and political realities facing a country. Compromise and willingness to engage are central to its success. Transitional justice relies on a number of approaches, ranging from legal to dialogue-based ones. The intersection between the two is crucial to the longevity and quality of peace in conflict-affected countries. Throughout these processes, the question of inclusivity and participation is central. Who can participle and whose voice is heard? How does the end of conflict impact, or not, gender relations within a country? Can peacebuilding bring meaningful social transformation for all members of society? The course will rely on the literature discussing recent trends in peacebuilding and inclusive peace processes, with attention to the intersection with justice.

Transitional Justice, Mental Health and Pshycological Issues

Dealing with the past is a legal and political task but invariably this has social and psychological dimensions. A complex set of relationships exist between the recovery from political violence and the psychological processes that accompany widespread social change. Understanding this relationship can arguably strengthen transitional justice processes, and enhance psychosocial well-being in the society at large. Drawing on extensive personal experience in South Africa, Northern Ireland and elsewhere, as well the latest academic research, this course will examine the centrality of mental health issues in transitional justice, and the social, cultural, and identity issues involved in meeting the needs of victims, as well as addressing issues related to those who perpetrate violence. The course will also address issues such as truth, reconciliation, reparations, memorialization, and the role of civil society, through a psychosocial lens.