To Consolidate This Peace Of Ours

"On October 25, 2015, President Alassane Ouattara won a second term in Côte d'Ivoire's first presidential election since the country's devastating 2010-2011 post-election crisis, the bloody denouement of more than a decade of political instability and ethno-communal tensions. The largely peaceful election and strong economic growth that Côte d'Ivoire enjoyed during President Ouattara's first term led many to praise the country's recovery from its violent past. Scratch beneath the surface, however, and many of the key human rights challenges that contributed to past political violence remain, including lack of accountability for past human rights abuses, persistent weaknesses within the justice system, a need to complete security sector reforms, and inter-communal conflicts over land. During three research missions in October 2014 and May and July 2015, Human Rights Watch assessed the government's progress in addressing the legacies of the country's violent past and asked Ivorians about the key human rights priorities for the next five years. Based on more than 200 interviews, this report recommends that President Ouattara uses his second term to combine economic growth with an equal commitment to fighting impunity, strengthening the rule of law, completing security reforms, providing reparations to victims of abuses, and finding a lasting and rights-based solution to land conflicts in western Côte d'Ivoire. Failure to introduce meaningful reforms may reverse any progress on human rights and threaten the peace and security on which Côte d'Ivoire's economic recovery has been built"--Publisher's description.

This book explores the extent to which the International Criminal Court (ICC) has influenced peace processes in Cȏte d’Ivoire, Kenya and Uganda. It examines how the prosecution of those who bear the greatest responsibility for crimes committed in these countries may have negatively or positively influenced the process of making peace in their wake. It is concerned with how international accountability affects post-conflict countries and what the ICC brings to peace processes. The central question addressed by the book is whether justice spurs peace in post- conflict societies or whether justice complicates the peace process. If so, how? Relying on qualitative studies in these countries, this book comparatively analyses the impact of the interventions of the ICC in Uganda (2004), Kenya (after the 2007/2008 post-election violence), and Cȏte d’Ivoire. Its aim is to provide an evidence-based account of how the involvement of the ICC in these countries influences the processes of promoting peace. To gauge this, Malu develops an analytical framework which is based on four variables: deterrence, victims’ rights, reconciliation and accountability to the law. This book will appeal to those interested in post-conflict reconstruction, transitional justice, peace studies, conflict transformation, and international criminal law, including peace practitioners and those working in the field of international justice.

There is an emerging consensus that what is projected as democratic governance and justice in Africa requires a re-calibration, in particular, in relation to the constitutive demos, human rights, the realisation of commitments at various governance levels and the convergence between these ideations. The post-colonial narrative on democracy has unveiled some crevices in rule of law, political equality, political participation, political culture and freedom of the press. Aside from the fact that these notions are threatened by some existing institutional structures, these notions are increasingly being negotiated across political spaces. Evident in the prevalent narrative is an imperative for Africa to assert its place on the global scene of democratic governance and justice. However, if this will be accomplished, it is important to understand some of the issues that need to be worked through in this transition.

More than just an opportunity to uncover fact after conflict, truth commissions can also offer restorative power to nations across the globe. Truth Commissions and State Building presents the first comparative study of the role of its kind, illuminating these possibilities. Examining truth commissions as mechanisms for civic inclusion, identity formation, institutional reform, and nation (re)building in post-conflict and post-authoritarian societies, the book shifts attention towards institutional innovation in African countries, where approximately a third of all commissions have been established. Contributors explore the mandates, methods, outcomes, and legacies of truth commissions, analyzing their place in transitional and restorative justice. Rather than conceptualizing state building as incidental to their work, they present it as an intrinsic, central component. This flagship volume – authored by a stellar cast of policymakers, practitioners, and scholars – brings multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral perspectives to bear on the complex role of truth commissions in addressing transitional justice, historical injustices, and present-day human rights violations. As more countries, in both the Global South and the North, adopt this model to address historical and contemporary abuses, the dialogue between different sectors of society modelled here will help inform this process – wherever it might occur.

Based on a thorough study of the ‘lived theology’ of Christian students and university professors in Abidjan, Kinshasa and Yaoundé, this book proposes a theoretical framework that makes an intercultural and interdisciplinary debate on science and religion possible.

In March 2000, the United Nations Secretary-General convened an international panel to conduct a major study on United Nations Peace Operations. Chaired by former Algerian Foreign Minister and current Under-Secretary-General, Lakhdar Brahimi, the Panel was tasked to conduct a wide-ranging study and analysis over lessons learned from past operations such as those in Rwanda and Somalia, as well as current missions in Kosovo, East Timor, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Panel looked at how peacekeeping missions could achieve greater efficiency and success in attaining the key objectives of maintaining peace and promoting reconciliation and reconstruction. It also reviewed the context within which peacekeeping missions took place, the resources and limitations of the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) specifically, and the modality, efficacy, and extent of assistance rendered by the 'international community' within the framework of peacekeeping and peace-building in general. The fifth in a series of conferences organised on lessons learnt from peacekeeping operations was held under the auspices of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) of Singapore and the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA). Throughout two intense days in Singapore, in April 2001, an eminent group of academics, government officials, representatives of international organisations, representatives from ongoing UN Missions, and military scholars gathered behind closed doors to reflect upon the recommendations of the Brahimi Report and the obstacles to reform of peacekeeping. This volume contains all the papers presented at that event. It also includes the Co-Chairs' Summary and Recommendations. The Report is a summary of the many animated debates that took place during the conference. Recommendations of the Co-Chairs have been drawn from the broad range of opinions and insights from the conference. The findings and reactions of the participants to the Brahimi Report should give policy-makers, researchers, and international affairs analysts a candid review and critique of past experiences that is essential to the comprehension of the failures of current peacekeeping and requirements for future success.