Transitional Justice and Development: Partners for Sustainable Peace in Africa?

Abstract

This article argues that transitional justice processes should strive to incorporate development considerations in their scope as a means of ensuring that distributive justice is achieved. Distributive injustices-social, political, economic or cultural rights violations-are often the root causes of conflict, but transitional justice processes often do not give sufficient attention to them. This has been the case in countries such as South Africa, Kenya, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Through an examination of truth commissions in Africa, the article argues that without adequate acknowledgement of the conceptual and practical synergies between transitional justice and development, transitional justice will have limited remedial utility as a means for contributing to sustainable peace. • Rectificatory justice or the restorative capacity of transitional justice: how human rights violations, crimes against humanity and war crimes are to be addressed; • Distributive justice, which aims to address the root causes of conflict, the underlying social, political, economic or cultural injustices, including the perceived or real injustices in the distribution of resources, opportunities and power (Addison 2009: 122).

Examining victims and perpetrators in post-conflict Nepal

“…Victims seek the satisfaction of everyday needs and require support for long-term survival but, so too, do rural, poor Nepalis who were not directly impacted by the conflict. This brings into question the extent to which broader TJ debates engage with issues of marginalisation, social exclusion, development and the shortcomings of the Nepali state (Selim and Murithi, 2011). This reality points to the need to manage the expectations not only of TJ proponents but also of conflict-affected people.…”

Must Our Communities Bleed to Receive Social Services? Development projects and collective reparations schemes in colombia

“…(Robinson 2000) When we discuss development programmes in post-conflict contexts, peacebuilding initiatives usually form part of these programmes. Although the separation between the Right to Development and the Right to Reparation is rarely distinguished in practice because of the challenges outlined above, 10 it has been debated extensively in the academic literature on reparations (De Greiff 2006;Laplante 2007;García-Godos 2008;Miller 2008;Selim & Murithi 2011;Uprimny 2009;Waldorf 2012). The contemporary 'indivisibility of rights' debate emerged from the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action 11 and the 2007 Maastricht Guidelines on Violations of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, a non-binding agreement that declares that 'it is now undisputed that all human rights are indivisible, interdependent, interrelated and of equal importance for human dignity.…”

Impact and Issues of Alternative Dispute Resolution in South Africa with Emphasis on Workplace Dispute

“…Access to justice strengthens democratic dispensation, is very essential for human development, it is a means to reducing poverty and conflict prevention, it also restores dignity and strengthens the rule of law (Selim and Murithi, 2011). While there is ample legislation promoting alternative justice, the system remains largely neglected and people still use the status quo by instituting actions in orthodox formal courts .…”