Justice & Peacemaking : Justice in peace processes

Significant research and debate is devoted to various elements of justice in peace processes. This provides an invaluable source of information for actors in peace processes, but often fails to address precisely how and why they should consider and approach justice issues during peace negotiations.

What activities did the HD Centre undertake to address this issue?

In an effort to clarify the place and space for justice in peace processes on an empirical basis, the HD Centre published in September 2007 an analysis of how a set of these issues has been included in peace agreements since 1980. This report demonstrated trends in how specific issues such as amnesties, prisoner release or truth and reconciliation commissions have been included in peace agreements, and showed how certain issues seem to cluster together in agreements. The report also noted which of the agreements held.

To complement the trend analysis of the first report, comprehensive case studies have also been conducted on the peace processes in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Burundi and Aceh (Indonesia) peace processes. The reports of these studies focus on why specific and decisive justice components of the respective peace agreements were included, whether any were excluded, and also show how the mediators handled the respective issues during the negotiations. Most importantly, the reports also address the fundamental issue of what could have been done differently. The research phase was completed in early 2009 with the publication of a synthesis report, Negotiating Justice: Guidance for mediators, also drawing on thematic research such as on amnesties and truth commissions.

Donors to the project

The HD Centre would like to acknowledge and thank the Canadian International Development
Agency and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for their financial support to this project which is now closed.