Transitional Justice and the Role of Civil Society in Preventing Violations

Abstract

The 2016 resolutions of the General Assembly and the Security Council on the review of the United Nations Peacebuilding Architecture have placed prevention at the core of the UN engagement with peace. A focus on prevention entails a broader perspective, beyond early warning and rapid response, which allows for sustained engagement with civil society. In fact, the 2016 resolutions, as well as prior UN reports and studies, underscore the importance of a strong and diverse civil society in preventing conflict. In transitional justice, discussions about prevention of conflict and violations have examined the preventive effect of punishment and the compatibility of peace and justice goals, among others. Progressively, the focus has also broadened to examine the role civil society can play in advancing efforts to prevent the recurrence of armed conflict and violations. Some areas include civil society mobilization and advocacy, education reform, or civilian oversight mechanisms in security sector reform. In his report from October 2017, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence has referred to the crucial preventive role of institutions of civil society and to the need to explore other functions they can play to prevent violations. This panel welcomes papers researching the role of civil society in preventing violations in postconflict or post authoritarian contexts. Civil society understood, beyond NGOs, as encompassing social movements, social media, women groups, religious leaders, labor and professional organizations, and others. Proposals might examine, among other issues, conceptual as well as empirical questions around the role of civil society in preventing violations. Conceptual questions such as the relationships between peacebuilding, transitional justice, civil society interventions and the prevention of violations; in which ways or through what roles can civil society interventions contribute to prevention. At a more empirical level, examples of cases in which civil society interventions have prevented violations, what mechanisms have worked or what existing conditions have enabled civil society to play such a crucial role.