XIV - Justice at the Doorstep: Victims of International Crimes in Formal Versus Tradition-Based Justice Mechanisms in Sierra Leone, Rwanda and Uganda

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Sierra Leone, Rwanda and Uganda are only three out of so many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa that suff ered from violent conflict during the past two decades. What is particular to all three countries is that many or even most crimes during the conflict targeted civilians. In addition, civilians Often joined the armed forces in committing these crimes, After forceful or voluntary conscription or as a result of hate campaigns. This means that victims and perpetrators, even if they did not know each other directly, were Often from the same village or region and have to live together After the conflict ends. This chapter focuses on coexistence between victims and perpetrators and therefore on the micro-level of dealing with the consequences of armed conflict, even though this level is closely inter-related with the intergroup- and national level. The micro-level does not only include the individual relation between victim and perpetrator, but also the community to which they belong.

The assumption explored in this chapter is that in post-conflict situations where victims and perpetrators live together, especially in areas where tradition is Often still part of daily life, tradition-based justice pays more consideration to the victims’ rights and needs, compared to formal justice. This chapter assesses the actual consideration of victims’ needs in the three countries by both formal and tradition-based mechanisms. Interestingly, each of the three countries has developed a different relationship between formal and tradition-based justice mechanisms in the framework of transitional justice, allowing comparison between the ways victims’ rights and needs have been addressed in those varying mechanisms.

The chapter is based on three types of information: (1) existing academic research and grey literature; (2) 209 semi-structured interviews I conducted in Sierra Leone, Rwanda and Uganda in April, July and August 2009 and in July 2010, with international donors and organisations, as well as state actors, civil society organisations, traditional authorities, academics and participants in tradition-based justice activities; (3) my previous professional experience in Rwanda with genocide trials at the level of national courts in the years 1998 to 2000 and as a consultant for various organisations in the following years, and in Sierra Leone with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2003.