Getting it Right: Amnesty or Accountability After Atrocity?

Helena Cobban has just published a USIP grant-funded book, Amnesty After Atrocity? Healing Nations After Genocide (Paradigm Publishers, 2006). Based on research in Mozambique, Rwanda, and South Africa, this book examines the challenges of promoting reconciliation in different cultural and political settings in African states emerging from sustained violent conflict.

At the heart of Cobban's inquiry is the controversial issue of whether seeking accountability and retribution for war crimes and atrocities advances peacebuilding and reconciliation, and whether they should take priority over other approaches, such as amnesty and social interventions to promote healing.

Speakers

• Helena Cobban
  Columnist, The Christian Science Monitor

Discussants

• Betty Bigombe
  USIP Senior Fellow
  Senior Consultant, The World Bank
• Michael Johnson
  USIP Senior Fellow
  Registrar, Court of Bosnia & Herzegovina
• Joyce Neu
  USIP Senior Fellow
  Director, Joan B. Kroc Institute, University of San Diego

Moderator

• Judy Barsalou
  Vice President, USIP Grant and Fellowship Program

Archived Audio

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