In the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina, one of the critical elements of the ethnic cleansing regimes was rape and impregnation of women. When the international justice system was created to criminally try the perpetrators of the atrocities, including the rape victims was a new development. Looking at the tribunals and court system from a gendered perspective reveals that the efforts to include rape victims have not taken into account their specific needs, stemming from their trauma. A critical look the ICTY and other criminal courts are presented, as well as recommendations for improving inclusivity and reconciliation.

<p>This research project involves a comparative, cross-national study of truth and reconciliation commissions (TRCs) in countries around the world that have used these extra-judicial institutions to pursue justice and promote national reconciliation during periods of democratic transition or following a civil conflict marked by intense violence and severe human rights abuses. An important objective of truth and reconciliation commissions involves instituting measures to address serious human rights abuses that have occurred as a result of discrimination, ethnocentrism and racism. In recent years, rather than solely utilizing traditional methods of conflict resolution and criminal prosecution, transitional governments have established truth and reconciliation commissions as part of efforts to foster psychological, social and political healing. </p><p>The primary objective of this research project is to determine why there has been a proliferation of truth and reconciliation commissions around the world in recent decades, and assess whether the perceived effectiveness of these commissions is real and substantial. In this work, using a multi-method approach that involves quantitative and qualitative analysis, I consider the institutional design and structural composition of truth and reconciliation commissions, as well as the roles that these commissions play in the democratic transformation of nations with a history of civil conflict and human rights violations. </p><p>In addition to a focus on institutional design of truth and reconciliation commissions, I use a group identity framework that is grounded in social identity theory to examine the historical background and sociopolitical context in which truth commissions have been adopted in countries around the world. This group identity framework serves as an invaluable lens through which questions related to truth and reconciliation commissions and other transitional justice mechanisms can be explored. I also present a unique theoretical framework, the reconciliatory democratization paradigm, that is especially useful for examining the complex interactions between the various political elements that directly affect the processes of democratic consolidation and reconciliation in countries in which truth and reconciliation commissions have been established. Finally, I tackle the question of whether successor regimes that institute truth and reconciliation commissions can effectively address the human rights violations that occurred in the past, and prevent the recurrence of these abuses.</p> / Dissertation

Amnesties are a common feature in peace negotiations. Since the end of the Second World War, 45% of all bargained solutions to conflict included an amnesty provision (Binningsbø  et al., 2012:732). Even though it is such a common feature in modern conflicts, the research on amnesties in relation to peace is surprisingly scarce (ibid:732). Most scholars have studied the legality of amnesties, their legal implications, and their relation to human rights and democracy (Olsen et al., 2012; Bell, 2008; Freeman &amp; Pensky, 2012). During recent years, a debate has sparked between peacemakers and human rights advocates within the transitional justice literature regarding the justifiability of amnesties as a tool in peace negotiations. The debate is commonly referred to as the peace v. justice debate (Sonnenberg &amp; Cavallaro, 2012). Although several scholars have contributed to the debate, no consensus on if and how amnesties are beneficial for peacebuilding has been established. This paper will contribute to the debate by testing a newly developed theory in a comparative study, and strives to answer the question How do different types of amnesties affect prospects of peace?

This essay analyzes in a comparative manner, the cases of Argentina and Uruguay regarding the amnesty laws that both issued to members of the armed forces after the transition to democracy from the authoritarian regime, for violations of human rights committed during the military dictatorship. The research seeks to understand the causes that have made the amnesty law in Argentina from 1986 and 1987, together with the presidential pardoning of 1989 to be declared unconstitutional in 2005 and 2007 by the Argentinian Supreme Court, while the Uruguayan amnesty law issued in 1986 is at the time when this research was made still in force. The focus of this study relies on four main actors that have made an impact on this issue: the Executive; the Supreme Court; the Inter-American system of Human Rights; and the human rights movement. Our research intakes a qualitative nature that is the most appropriate method for this kind of study. A comparative methodology is developed studying the cases of Argentina and Uruguay in order to outline similarities and differences between them both, which let us see the different variables that both cases have in an effort to better understand the causes that led to different outcomes regarding the present legal status of the amnesty laws. This essay utilizes as its theoretical framework, theories of Transitional Justice and Human Rights from below, which are applied to the material presented in both cases. In Argentina, the Supreme Court, the Executive, the human rights movement and the Inter-American system of Human Rights, have worked together in the last decade to abolish the amnesty laws and the pardoning in the country. The Supreme Court in Uruguay acting against the Executive power in the last time is seen as a keen factor to why the amnesty law is still in force today. Here, the referendums in 1989 and 2009 supporting the further upholding of the law influenced the decision of the Supreme Court, and also made a negative impact in the human rights movement.

The concept transitional justice refers to a wide range of measures which are applied in times of political and societal transformation. Its starting point is a state of widespread and grave violations of human rights which is typical for undemocratic rules, for times of conflicts including both national and international, but it also existed within some of traditionally democratic countries such as Canada or New Zealand in a form of systematic discrimination against the indigenous population. The target of transitional justice measures is to establish democratic system which protects human rights and fundamental freedoms as a reliable guarantee of sustainable peace. Transitional justice is sometimes considered to fall within measures strengthening the rule of law however some steps such as vetting may temporarily deform the rule of law and equality of citizens before the law which is its integral part. International law regulates transitional justice measures by means of international humanitarian law, international human rights law and international criminal law. International criminal law, or more generally measures of criminal law nature, has been in modern history the primary response to breaches of human rights. Later, other measures were added including those of judicial and non - judicial...

Much has been studied about the impact of transitional justice mechanisms as well as gendered impactof armed conflict. However, less is known about the gendered impact of transitional justice, includingtruth commissions. This thesis aims to fill this research gap by exploring the long-term consequencesof gender sensitive and gender-blind truth commissions for women’s security in post-conflict societies.Combining and building upon feminist critiques on transitional justice and discourses on thetransformative potential of truth commissions, I argue that truly gender sensitive truth commissionscan facilitate improvement of women’s security, as the reparations and institutional reformsrecommended by such commissions are also gender sensitive and help address root causes of violenceagainst women (VAW). The argument is tested through a structured focused comparison of two cases– South Africa and Sierra Leone. The results provided meager support for the theorized relationship.South Africa, which was characterized by low gender sensitivity of its truth commission, shows nochange in terms of the prevalence of VAW; whereas Sierra Leone with a highly gender sensitive truthcommission demonstrated improvement in some areas of women’s security. However, the evidencebase is thin while the poor implementation of the recommendations obscures the observable impactof the Sierra Leone truth commission, which compels further research with a larger number of casesand robust data collection strategy.

Thesis advisor: Stephen J. Pope / Transitional justice responds to injustices and violations of human rights following a period of repressive rule or civil war. This dissertation argues that the needs of post-conflict societies are best served by local, participatory approaches to transitional justice. In the case of Guatemala, it was essential for the nation to embrace its common religious narrative as a resource for rebuilding the republic. The Guatemalan Catholic Church worked to build peace out of the ashes of state sponsored terror. It demonstrated the prophetic role of the Church by offering a collective voice condemning those in positions of authority for their neglect of the basic human rights of the majority of Guatemalans. The CEG also highlighted the reconciliatory function of the Church by promoting forgiveness and reconciliation within the public square. This experience calls for theological ethical reflection on how the Catholic Church could best serve the needs of civil society in the wake of nearly forty years of political violence. Responding to the need for critical theological reflection, this dissertation proposes a transformationalist understanding of the relation of love to justice for transitional justice. It draws its inspiration from a selective reading of Augustine and Augustinian scholarship. An Augustinian approach to transitional justice brings together the high moral ideas of love, justice, forgiveness, and peace while at the same time acknowledging the ever-present reality of sin and human weakness. It attempts to transform a post-conflict society into a moral community whose citizens are on a journey toward the destination of temporal peace. It realizes that we may never reach our destination of temporal peace, but we can glimpse it from afar. This dissertation offers the following ten Augustinian insights as a framework for a theological approach to transitional justice. 1) Charity is the motivating force for transitional justice and the pursuit of socio-political reconciliation; 2) Charity transforms our understanding of justice from noninterference and retribution to rehabilitating and reconciling; 3) Transitional justice ought to be contextual, paying attention to the unique concerns of a given post-conflict society; 4) Distinguishing, without bifurcating, the ends of the temporal and celestial commonwealths offers a positive, but not naïve, evaluation of the Church’s potential to be an instrument of social transformation; 5) Post-conflict societies need to foster conditions that allow for pluralism and social cohesion through civic friendship; 6) Post-conflict societies must develop social practices to train citizens in the civic virtues of love, justice, and friendship; 7) Transitional justice requires an ethical retrieval of the truth through the healing of memory; 8) Transitional justice upholds the moral obligation to admonish and correct sinful social behavior; 9) Transitional justice ought to foster the just and prudential protection of society through the use of coercive force on behalf of society’s most vulnerable citizens; and 10) Post-conflict societies need to cultivate and sustain an ethos of active hope that, far from inducing political passivity, promotes civic engagement. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

Esta dissertação consiste na análise da evolução da política de segurança do governo colombiano entre 2008 e 2016 para lidar com as FARC, conjuntamente com a análise da evolução das preferências de atores políticos domésticos e internacionais que compuseram uma representação da sociedade colombiana e de suas relações internacionais em momentos-chave desta transição. As preferências destes atores foram agrupadas em tipos ideais: a favor da exclusividade do combate militar ou de negociações que, informalmente reunidas, formam coalizões multiníveis em prol de uma ou outra diretriz. O objetivo foi identificar qual sustentação política possibilitou uma ruptura na política de segurança colombiana antes exclusivamente voltada ao combate e que se direcionou para o início de negociações dado que, diferentemente das duas rupturas anteriores, esta não foi resultado de uma escolha direta da população nas eleições presidenciais. A hipótese sustentada na pesquisa é que mudanças contextuais ocorreram simultaneamente nos âmbitos doméstico e internacional e que ambas foram igualmente necessárias para o sucesso desta transição. Estas mudanças contextuais geraram também uma mudança de narrativa da promoção da imagem da Colômbia como um Estado frágil para a de um país em franco desenvolvimento. A contribuição a que esta pesquisa se propõe é romper a barreira de análise destes dois âmbitos tratados na literatura primordialmente de forma cindida, impondo um empecilho para a compreensão desta política que é simultaneamente doméstica e internacional, impedindo uma maior compreensão dos mecanismos causais da sua evolução. Esta análise simultânea permitiu identificar um descompasso entre o entusiasmo internacional com a negociação e um cenário doméstico polarizado com preferências conflitantes. Os elementos que a pesquisa encontra como determinantes para esta transição são que este conflito, que fora intensamente internacionalizado, ter passado por um processo de \"renacionalização\" e também de estagnação em um confronto de baixa intensidade, redistribuindo os custos e os pesos dos atores politicamente determinantes. Em relação aos atores políticos, a pesquisa identifica que foram necessários para a transição: o presidente colombiano e as FARC, o Congresso colombiano, EUA e Venezuela. O apoio direto da mídia, da opinião pública e da União Europeia não teriam sido necessários, mas são importantes para a consistência política e para o sucesso na implementação da negociação e do processo transicional. / This work is an analysis of how the Colombian security policy to deal with FARC evolved between 2008 and 2016 and an analysis of how evolved the preferences of domestic and international political actors that composed a representation of the Colombian society and its international relations around key moments of this transition. The preferences of those actors were grouped in two ideal types: in favor of the military combat versus those favoring negotiations. Informally united, those actors formed multilevel coalitions in favor of one of those preferences. The goal was to identify which was the political support that enabled a radical change in the Colombian security policy from the military combat to negotiation considering that, differently from the two preceding political changes, this was not the result of a direct popular choice through presidential elections. The hipotesis sustained in this research is that contextual changes happened both in the domestic and international spheres and that both were necessary to enable this policy transition. Those contextual evolutions also generated the change of the main Colombian political narrative, from the promotion of the Colombian image as a fragile State to the one of a country in full development. This work contributes to break the analytical barrier between the domestic and international spheres, treated mostly as separated parts in the academy, which constitutes a barrier to the comprehension of this policy that is simultaneously domestic and international, demanding a double level analysis to understand its causal mechanisms. This simultaneous analysis enabled the identification of a large imbalance among the constant international enthusiasm and many conflicting preferences at the polarized domestic sphere. The factors that the research finds as determinant to this transition were the fact that this conflict that was intensely internationalized passed by a process of \'renationalization\' and by a process of stagnation at a low intensety confrontation redistributing the operational and political costs and also the relative relevance of the intervening political actors. Regarding these political actors, the research identified that the Presidency, FARC, Colombian congress, USA and Venezuela were necessary to the policy transition. The direct support from the Colombian population, the media and the European Union were not necessary, but were important to the political consistency and will be crucial to the success of the transitional process.

How, if at all, should we remember the histories of injustice and atrocity that haunt most modern states? Since World War II, it has become commonplace to suggest that properly responding to injustices requires societies to remember them, and to remember the experiences of those they touched. But what specific value might memory in this sense constitute in or contribute to the lives and societies of those coping with troubled history? This question raises two issues. The first is ontological: what does it mean to say that a society should remember in the first place? Is it to say that the individuals who make up society should each privately remember, or is to say that the society as a whole should somehow create or maintain a collective memory that is not reducible to the sum of individual cognitive processes? The second issue is normative: what exactly can memory so conceived do to ameliorate the undesirable legacies that historical injustices leaves on the world? How might remembering help us to move forward, or help us to lessen the pains we can’t leave behind? This study takes on both of these issues. On the first, I suggest that when we speak of societies remembering, we’re speaking of irreducibly social processes, by which individual memories are translated into publicly available traces of the past, which can then inform recollection by others, perhaps at some distance from the original event. On the second, I suggest that this sort of remembering can be valuable in the wake of injustice as a way of combating the legacies of persistent harm and exclusion that sometimes follow victims long after an injustice is over, and challenge their abilities to stand, participate, and identify as full members of the political community. Memory in this sense is crucial for re-negotiating the boundaries of membership, and for rebuilding a more inclusive public world.

As transições para a democracia ocorridas entre 1974 e 1990 marcaram a Terceira Onda de democratização, incluindo países de todo o mundo. No início dos anos 1980 a onda democrática se deslocou para a América Latina, com o fim de regimes militares de diversos países da região, nos quais uma junta militar ou generais se revezavam no poder. Dentre eles está Argentina, Brasil, Chile e Uruguai. Com as novas democracias que emergiram nas décadas de 1980 e 1990, surgiram estudos sobre a transição dos regimes autoritários para o regime democrático, dividindo o processo em duas etapas: a primeira envolvendo a criação ou recriação de instituições democráticas e a segunda atrelada à consolidação da democracia e seu funcionamento, envolvendo o apoio da população à democracia, bem como diversas atitudes, valores e crenças no âmbito político que estão intimamente ligados ao envolvimento dos indivíduos com a vida pública. Além disso, levantou-se a questão de como lidar com as consequências do passado autoritário, seus legados (não só institucionais, mas culturais) e os desafios para a construção e consolidação da democracia. Neste bojo está a discussão sobre Justiça de Transição, a qual diz respeito à justiça em períodos de mudança política, e que engloba diversas ações das quais se pode lançar mão para tratar o legado deixado pelos regimes ditatoriais. Considerando isso, busca-se entender como a justiça de transição pode contribuir para fomentar a valorização da democracia pós-autoritarismo, voltando-se para os instrumentos adotados nos processos. Desse modo, o objetivo do presente estudo é analisar os instrumentos de justiça de transição enquanto iniciativas que possibilitam a consolidação da democracia, à luz da Cultura Política, partindo da hipótese de que processos de Justiça de Transição afetam a cultura política, contribuindo positivamente para a construção de uma cultura política que valoriza a democracia em detrimento do autoritarismo. / The transitions to democracy that happened from 1974 to 1990 in countries of all the continents are considered part of the so-called Third Wave of democratization. In the early 1980s, the democratic wave shifted to Latin America, ending several military regimes in the region, in which military juntas or generals took turns in power. Among these countries are Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay. These new democracies that emerged in the 1980s and 1990s made several studies surface on the theme of transition from authoritarian to democratic regimes, and these studies split the process into two stages: first the creation or re-creation of democratic institutions; and second the consolidation of democracy. Democracy's functioning, therefore, involves the support of the population to democracy, as well as diverse attitudes, values, and beliefs in the political sphere, which are closely linked to the involvement of individuals in public life. In addition, a question that often arose from it is the one of how to deal with the consequences of this authoritarian past, its legacies (not only institutional but also cultural) and the challenges to the construction and consolidation of democracy. Therefore, it is necessary to discuss Transitional Justice, which concerns justice in periods of political change, encompassing several actions that can be used to deal with the legacy left by dictatorial regimes. Considering this, it is sought to understand how transitional justice can contribute to fostering a political culture of valorizing post-authoritarian democracies, from the instruments adopted in the processes. Thus, the aim of this study is to analyze the instruments of transitional justice as initiatives that allow the consolidation of democracy in the light of Political Culture, starting from the hypothesis that Transitional Justice processes affect the political culture, contributing positively to the construction of a political culture that values democracy at the expense of authoritarianism.