Resources & Tools
part of the Rule of Law
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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. |
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Rule of Law Specialist Scott Worden testified on Capitol Hill on March 26, 2009 on the issue of "Human Rights in Afghanistan." A former adviser to the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan on human rights and elections issues, Worden helped the U.S. Helsinki Commission examine the current state of human rights in Afghanistan. |
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In Assessing the Impact of Transitional Justice, fourteen leading researchers study seventy countries that have suffered from autocratic rule, genocide, and protracted internal conflict. |
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USIP recently co-sponsored a conference in Cambodia to highlight lessons learned about war crimes documentation for Afghan human rights practitioners. USIP's Scott Worden, who organized the event, reports that a broad range of documentation techniques from computer databases to memorials are available to tell victims' stories in a way that promotes healing and a greater understanding of the past. |
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Uganda has just agreed to a peace agreement between the government and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army after more than two decades of brutal conflict. Yet complex issues of transitional justice remain and must be resolved to facilitate national reconciliation. |
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Amid the run-up to the Constituent Assembly elections scheduled for November, Nepal's government has prepared a Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is the most prominent of several commitments made during the peace process to promote transitional justice following Nepal's more than 10-year civil war. |
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Against a backdrop of halting progress by many international courts, the Special Court of Sierra Leone (SCSL) has quietly had significant success in accomplishing its mission to provide justice for the perpetrators most responsible for the horrific crimes committed against the people of Sierra Leone. |
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This report focuses on the often-ignored challenges faced by those seeking, through memorialization, to help repair societies that are emerging from violent conflict. The summary matrix at the end of this report provides recommendations to international actors interested in assisting in that process. Issue Areas: Post-Conflict Activities, Rule of Law
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Temporary international criminal courts create voluminous records of lasting significance to victims, scholars, and legal practictioners—arrangements must be made for their permanent protection, storage, and use. Issue Areas: Rule of Law
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Morocco's truth and reconciliation commission—the first in the Arab world—provides a road map to further democratization and a positive model for social and political reforms in the rest of the Arab world. |