Peace versus justice?
Subtitle: the dilemma of transitional justice in Africa
By: edited by Chandra Lekha Sriram and Suren Pillay
Publisher: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Scottsville, South Africa
Language: eng
Number of pages: 373
ISBN-13: 9781869141738
Description: This book offers fresh insights on the so-called "justice versus peace" dilemma, examining the challenges and prospects for promoting both peace and accountability, specifically in African countries affected by conflict or political violence. Peace versus Justice? draws on the expertise of many insiders analysts, individuals who are not only authorities on transitional accountability processes, but who have participated in them, whether as legal practitioners or commissioners. While the primary focus is on processes in Africa, many of the contributors also draw on lessons from earlier processes elsewhere in the world, particularly Latin America. The chapters in this volume consider a wide range of approaches to accountability and peacebuilding. These include not only domestic courts and tribunals, hybrid tribunals, or the International Criminal Court, but also truth commissions and informal or non-state justice and conflict resolution processes. Taken together, they demonstrate the wealth of experiences and experimentation in transitional justice processes on the continent.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Part I. Peace and justice in Africa. The politics of transitional justice / Yasmin Louise Sooka; title: Inclusive justice: the limitations of trial justice and truth commissions / Charles Villa-Vicencio; title: Prosecute or pardon?: between truth commissions and war crimes trials / Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu; title: Gender and truth and reconciliation commissions: comparative reflections / Sheila Meintjes; title: Transitional justice, democratisation and the rule of law / Mireille Affa'a Mindzie. Part II. Truth and reconciliation process. South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission from a global perspective / Alex Boraine; title: Reflecting on the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission: a peacebuilding perspective / Thelma Ekiyor; title: Peace versus justice?: a view from Nigeria / Matthew Kukah; title: A path to peace and justice: Ghana's National Reconciliation Commission in retrospect / Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah; title: Peace and justice: Mozambique and Sierra Leone compared / John L. Hirsch. Part III. War crimes tribunals. Sierra Leone's 'not-so' Special Court / Abdul Tejan-Cole; title: Charles Taylor, the Special Court for Sierra Leone and international politics / Abdul Rahman Lamin; title: The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda: reconciling the acquitted / Wambui Mwangi. Part IV. Indigenous justice. The politics of peace, justice and healing in post-war Mozambique: 'Practices of Rupture' by Magamba Spirits and Healers in Gorongosa / Victor Igreja; title: Indigenous justice or political instrument?: the modern Gacaca Courts of Rwanda / Helen Scanlon and Nompumelelo Motlafi. Part V. The International Criminal Court: problems and prospects. The International Criminal Court Africa experiment: the Central African Republic, Darfur, Northern Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo / Chandra Lekha Sriram; title: The International Criminal Court in Darfur / Dumisa Buhle Ntsebeza.