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6/4/13 4:eeping faith in transitional justice - The SJAC Weekly Update

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The SJAC Weekly Update- June 4, 2013

Keeping faith in transitional justice

If ever a war-torn country could

benefit from transitional justice, it is

Syria. But as the conflict becomes

more protracted and gruesome,

many see transitional justice as a

distant mirage, faraway and illusory.

While feelings of pessimism are

justified, it is more important than

ever that Syrians believe that transitional justice will increase

accountability and peace. This faith itself will determine, in part, the

success of transitional justice efforts.

Critics of transitional justice mechanisms emphasize that they cant fix all

the problems and that they are idealistic. The first point is certainly true,

no single endeavor can solve all the likely post-conflict problems.As the

Editorial Note in Marchs International Journal of Transitional Justice

admits, Transitional justice has been presented as the ingenious quick

remedy for addressing a range of social ills. This is unfortunate, and

proponents of TJ should communicate realistic expectations about what

TJ can achieve, or else face a backlash against transitional justice

mechanisms that fail to deliver on their overblown promises.

On the other hand, the claim that transitional justice is idealistic is quite

far from the truth. One of the reasons that transitional justice

mechanisms are seen as idealistic is because they attempt to address

vast and complicated issues, sometimes including fostering national unity,

preventing ethnic conflict, distributing reparations, and facilitating

institutional growth. If the problems were simple, you wouldnt need

transitional justice in the first place. But rather than idealistic, the

mechanisms employed are pragmatic-- they are specifically designed to

address the apparently intractable issues that arise in the wake of conflict

and large-scale crimes and right violations. KEEP READING.

Transitional justiceworking groups to

meet in Istanbul

Building on April's TransitionalJustice Strategy Meeting, the SJAC

will bring together four workinggroups of Syrians and international

experts to outline detailedstrategies for the key areas of truth-

seeking and reconciliation,reparations and memorialization,

prosecutions and judicialprocesses, and institutional reform.

The working groups will meet inIstanbul in June.

Visit the SJAC's ResourcesPage to access our growing

collection of Arabic-language resources on

documentation andtransitional justice.

Advice on best practicesfor conducting interviews by

WITNESS here.

RSSTranslate

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7/28/2019 Keeping Faith in Transitional Justice - The SJAC Weekly Update

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6/4/13 4:eeping faith in transitional justice - The SJAC Weekly Update

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The SJAC is an independent, non-political, Syrian-led, and multi-laterally supported organization that serves as acoordinating body for all actors promoting transitional justice and accountability for Syria. The SJAC providesvetted, accurate data on human rights violations occurring on all sides of the conflict in Syria. The SJAC expertiseand data is used in the transitional justice process for Syria.

Our mailing address is: info@syriaaccountability.org

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