Extant transitional justice literature examining processes and functions of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia have traditionally looked at the output and outcomes from an institutional level of analysis and have neglected to examine how the witness feels about his or her own participation in the process. This project provides deeper perspective from the individual level of analysis based on sequential phases of the testimony process lifecycle: the reason the witness decided to participate with the tribunal, the psychological effect of the testimonial process, and the satisfaction the witness had about their own contribution to the ICTY. I expound upon existing findings and confirm survivors of sexual assault testify more from personal reasons than out of altruistic motivations. I further examine the two competing theories that dominate the discussion of how the testimonial process normatively effects a witness and find demonstrable evidence to confirm either. I create and confirm an explanatory theory that addresses patterns of emotional states both prior to and after completion of testifying, providing a theoretical explanation of negative emotions reported by witnesses both before and after testifying. I also confirm that witnesses who identified being motivated to testify out of an obligation reported a stronger belief that their testimony helped contribute to finding justice while witnesses who participated seeking internal or personal closure believed their participation helped the tribunal establish the truth about the wars in the former Yugoslavia. These findings and information can help to inform best practices for future tribunal services as well as assist victim and witness policies.

This study seeks to answer the questions that arise when applying the UN framework to the existing post-conflict situation in Northern Uganda, while at the same time contributing to the discourse on the right to reparation in international law. / A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Prof S. Tindifa, Human Rights and Peace Centre (HURIPEC), Faculty of Law, Makerere University, Uganda. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa))--University of Pretoria, 2009. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

Magister Legum - LLM / In the past, analyses of Uganda’s Transitional Justice legal and policy measures on truth-seeking have been focussed on evaluating the efficacy of a truth commission. However, being cognizant of the limitations entailed in taking that approach, this research adopts a more comprehensive examination of the problem, assessing the viability of all the known truth-seeking avenues and the opportunities they present in enabling Uganda to effectively address the challenge of enforcing accountability for past violations. The research uses a doctrinal study to demonstrate that even if Uganda were to adopt a truth commission as a truth-seeking initiative, there are no guarantees for its success. In fact, the research illustrates that, given the political context of there being no actual transition, a truth commission is more likely to fail and may only be used to achieve political rather than truth and justice objectives. Yet, the research finds that the current Transitional Justice discourse and the recent enactment of the National Transitional Justice Policy 2019 present good opportunity for the incorporation of traditional justice mechanisms into Uganda’s formal justice processes to enhance their truth-seeking capability.

La dynamique des crises politiques au Burkina Faso a été empreinte de mobilisations multisectorielles ayant entraîné une désectorisation conjoncturelle de l'espace social avec pour corollaire une mobilité des enjeux des confrontations et des transactions collusives d’opposition et de gouvernement. Ces mobilisations se sont faites autour d’enjeux relatifs notamment : à la conquête du pouvoir d’État, au contrôle de l’appareil d’État ; à l’amélioration des conditions de vie des travailleurs ; à la propriété foncière ; à l’intangibilité des règles constitutionnelles relatives à l’exercice du pouvoir d’État ; à l’alternance au sommet de l’État ; à la participation de certains acteurs à la compétition politique ; à la prise de mesures d’atténuation de la cherté de la vie ; à la quête de la vérité et de la justice.Au final, les mobilisations multisectorielles ont été à l’origine de changements politiques qui, selon la conjoncture, ont été soit pacifiques, soit violents.Quelles que soient leurs caractéristiques, les différentes crises politiques ont contraint les protagonistes, mais aussi des tierces personnes à ces crises, à y trouver des solutions par le recours à diverses stratégies.Ces stratégies de sortie de crises politiques se sont jouées autour d’enjeux liés à : la conservation du pouvoir politique, la préservation de la paix sociale, le redressement économique et financier de l’État, le rétablissement de l’ordre public, la quête de la vérité et de la justice, l’obtention du pardon et de la réconciliation nationale.Elles ont donné lieu à une diversité d’initiatives avec pour corollaire une variété des moyens, coercitifs et pacifiques, utilisés pour sortir des situations de crise. En outre, les initiatives de sortie de crises politiques ont débouché sur des dynamiques de transitions constitutionnelles et de justice transitionnelle. Si elles ont constitué des processus distincts, elles n’en ont pas moins eu des finalités communes : la garantie des droits et la reconstruction de l’État de droit. Ces finalités communes peuvent coïncider de sorte que la dynamique de justice transitionnelle intègre le texte constitutionnel consacrant ainsi sa constitutionnalisation. Finalement, ces dynamiques transitionnelles ont constitué des fenêtres d’opportunités pour procéder à des réformes constitutionnelles et de politiques publiques. / The dynamics of the political crises in Burkina Faso have been marked by multisectoral mobilizations having led to a cyclical desectorization of the social space, with the consequence of a mobility of the stakes of confrontations and collusive opposition and government transactions.These mobilizations were made around relative issues including: the conquest of state power, the control of the state apparatus; to the improvement of the living conditions of the workers; land ownership; the inviolability of constitutional rules relating to the exercise of State power; alternation at the top of the state; the participation of certain actors in the political competition; taking measures to mitigate the high cost of living and the quest for truth and justice.In the end, the multisectoral mobilizations have been at the origin of political changes which, according to the conjuncture, were either peaceful or violent.The different political strategies have forced the protagonists, but also third parties to these crises, to find solutions by the use of various strategies.These strategies out of political crises were played around issues related to: the preservation of political power, the preservation of social peace, the economic and financial recovery of the state, the restoration of public order, the quest truth and justice, obtaining forgiveness and national reconciliation.They have given rise to a variety of initiatives, resulting in a variety of means, coercive and peaceful, used to emerge from crisis situations. In addition, the initiatives to end political crises have resulted in constitutional transitions and transitional justice. Although they constituted distinct processes, they nevertheless had common goals: the guarantee of rights and the reconstruction of the rule of law. These common goals can coincide so that the dynamics of transitional justice integrate the constitutional text thus consecrating its constitutionalisation. Finally, these transitional dynamics constituted windows of opportunity to carry out constitutional and public policy reforms.

One of the most violent periods of the Guatemalan civil war was the government of General Efraín Ríos Montt in the early 1980s, which went down in history with the sad legacy of genocide, large-scale displacement and other war crimes. Most of them have never been investigated or punished. The breakthrough of impunity was the accession of Claudia Paz y Paz to the head of the public prosecutor's office. Trial with Ríos Montt became the most exposed one. Despite the subsequent annulment of the incriminating verdict, this process was an important milestone in Guatemalan justice, but also in international law, contributing several key precedents. Ríos Montt became the first head of state to be convicted of genocide by a domestic tribunal. This work deals with the factors that influenced the war crimes prosecutions after the signing of peace agreements and analyzes the importance of the trial of Ríos Montt in the Guatemalan coming to terms with the past by the state. Key Words Guatemala, Efraín Ríos Montt, genocide, impunity, transitional justice

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This thesis examines views on reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and how these have changed over time, in an attempt to elucidate if transitional justice can promote reconciliation in the aftermath of ethnic conflict in systems that entrench ethnonational insecurity. Drawing upon literature from the field of social psychology, the paper argues that the work of transitional justice mechanisms is interpreted through a sociopsychological infrastructure of conflict which hinders the intended effects from being realized. Data from two levels of analysis is utilized, with statements made by political elites and population surveys in order to identify trends in the views on reconciliation. While there is limited positive change observed at the population level, the same cannot be said of the elites. Ultimately, the results suggest that, in the case of post-Dayton BiH, transitional justice has been unable to promote reconciliation in the aftermath of ethnic conflict.

The fields of Transitional Justice and Forensic Archaeology and Anthropology are all, one way or another, in the service of Truth Finding; theoretically they should be incorporated within each other’s theoretical frameworks and mechanisms, as the fields have considerate overlap. Approaching the fields from an academic perspective, one will soon learn that, although connected by Truth, their academic foundations are vastly different, in every sense possible; their ontology, epistemology as well as their dissemination of research. This work investigates whether the aforementioned elements impact the connectedness between fields. With the aid of Quantitative Content Analysis, Expert Interviews and statistical analysis, this work sets out to create an interdisciplinary Mixed Method piece of research. The results indicate that although awareness of the other fields exists, the data suggests that it is below the threshold of what it should be. The ontology, epistemology and dissemination have major roles is the gap of connectedness, however other developments in the past and present drive a wedge between the fields.

Since the 1970s we have witnessed a flourishing of transitional justice efforts around the globe. Yet, the actual impact of transitional justice is in question. This study assesses the impact of transitional justice with a single-case study of South Korea, the May 18 Democratic Movement (5.18) case in particular. In addition to the impact assessment, my dissertation provides an explanation on how transitional justice mechanisms exert their impact. To assess the impact of transitional justice, the study examines three dimensions - civil-military relations, historical narratives and institutional safeguards against human rights violations – which are essential in deterring further human rights violations by states. After process tracing the evolution of each dimension for the last 36 years, the study finds that transitional justice in South Korea has had a positive impact on deterring human rights violations since the democratic transition: the impact on civil-military relations and historical narratives is strong and positive, and the impact on institutional safeguards is positive, but somewhat limited due to South Korea’s unique security circumstances. Although the implementation of transitional justice mechanisms was imperfect and their impact is limited in some domains, on balance, the benefits of pursuing transitional justice in the South Korean case outweighed any possible costs – benefits in terms of (1) strengthening civilian control over the military, (2) creating a new historical narrative that delegitimated human rights abuses, and (3) creating institutional safeguards against human rights violations. Despite the possible negative consequences, the South Korean experience suggests that if transitional justice is pushed by strong public demand and properly implemented (sequence, timing, etc.), it can actually be more profitable and fruitful in establishing a society in which human rights are well respected and protected. The study also finds that transitional justice is a long and non-linear process, and not only the outcome but also the process itself produces a positive impact. / 2025-11-30T00:00:00Z

Many post-conflict societies, even those which have been free from active conflict for decades, continue to be heavily divided along the same lines on which the conflict was once fought. While active conflict might be a distant memory, the legacy of conflict ensures the group identities which either caused or were borne out of the conflict remain strong. Achieving a situation where a society truly lets go of the anger and resentment that fuels its divisions has proven to be an allusive prospect, however, it’s a goal many post-conflict states continue to reach for. The effort a state uses to try to deconstruct these potentially harmful social identities and to deal with the conflict-related grievances which strengthen them can be loosely understood as post-transitional justice. Part of the reason why effective reconciliation has proven so difficult is that post-transitional justice typically requires societies to reopen old wounds and publicly address challenging memories. Thus, in the context of divided post-conflict societies, post-transitional justice, if not properly implemented, can itself be a divisive procedure and one that risks heightening tensions rather than reducing them. Despite this clear risk, little research has been conducted to understand what factors are likely to make the difficult process of introducing post-transitional justice more or less successful. This thesis addresses this research gap. It uses a social identity approach to examine how socio-political context influences group identification and inter-group behaviour in divided societies and how these behaviours subsequently impact how those groups perceive post-transitional justice mechanisms. This thesis draws on the timely case of Northern Ireland, which is in the process of introducing a wide-reaching post-transitional justice mechanism at a time when the socio-political context has been markedly challenged by Brexit and other socio-political events. Through a mixed methods approach which used both questionnaires and key informant interviews, this thesis demonstrates how the recent socio-political context in Northern Ireland has significantly heightened nationalist and unionist identification with their groups and has concurrently heightened tensions between the two groups. This thesis shows how this environment has subsequently made these groups less likely to accept the terms of the post-transitional justice mechanism, thus limiting its ability to reach its goal of creating an enabling environment for reconciliation, trust, and peacebuilding.