Rule of Law

Lack of justice and a culture of impunity have emerged as major grievances in Afghanistan, alienating the population from the government and creating an enabling environment for the insurgency.  Please join us for a discussion of informal and formal justice systems, and an overview of USIP’s justice projects that aim to strengthen linkages between these two sectors and address impunity.

This report presents the research findings and analysis of ten months of field study as part of the United States Institute of Peace and George Washington University project titled "From Current Practices of Justice to Rule of Law: Policy Options for Liberia's First Post-Conflict Decade." The analysis we present, based on three types of research methods (focus groups, individual interviews with parties to specific disputes, and interviews with chiefs, zoes [traditional leaders], and other justice practitioners) employed primarily in three counties (Grand Gedeh, Lofa, Nimba, and less extensively in parts of Monrovia), is intended to provide the Liberian government and other stakeholders in the country with more robust evidence than has hitherto been available on how both formal and customary justice systems are perceived and utilized by Liberians.

In Afghanistan and Iraq, Congress provides oversight and resources for U.S. programs to reform local military and police forces. This process is critical to U.S. success, but is little understood. USIP's Security Sector Reform Working Group examined the role of Congress in ensuring that security assistance is effective, serves U.S interests and creates democratic security forces.

The Asia Foundation will release findings from its fifth public opinion poll, "Afghanistan in 2009: A Survey of the Afghan People," the most comprehensive survey conducted in all 34 of Afghanistan’s provinces.

The political and socio-cultural position of women in Afghanistan is in transition, particularly in the urban areas of the country. Advances have been made to include women in peacebuilding efforts, as noted by the recently adopted Constitution that grants equal rights for men and women, and as more and more women engage in entrepreneurial activities.

Daniel P. Serwer, who has supervised the United States Institute of Peace's (USIP) efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Balkans, Haiti and Sudan, will now lead the growing Centers of Innovation at the Institute, overseeing a wide range of cutting edge projects. Serwer, who was the founding vice president of USIP's Center for Post-Conflict Peace and Stability Operations, will now focus full-time on innovation in rule of law, religion and peacemaking, sustainable economies, media and conflict, science, technology, security sector reform, and other areas related to peacebuilding.

Three weeks after the August 20th national elections, the outcome of the election remains contested. Results posted by Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission show President Hamid Karzai at 54% and his main challenger Dr. Abdullah at 28% with 91.6% of polling stations tallied. But widespread allegations of fraud have marred the results,  with over 2000 complaints filed to the Afghan Elections Complaints Commission (ECC). Please join us for a discussion of these issues with experts just arrived from Afghanistan, all of whom have observed the Afghan political process up close for the last few years.