Transitional Justice, Social Justice, and Human Rights

On 8 June 2017, SIM and Montaigne Centre organised a Transitional Justice Seminar in the Raadzaal at Utrecht University. The seminar focused on Social Justice and Human Rights, topics which fall into one of the themes of the IOS namely ‘Institutions for Equality, Inclusiveness and Social Mobility’.

The list of speakers included both experienced practitioners (e.g. Marieke Wierda, a Transitional Justice  expert from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands) and experts in victimology (Prof Antony Pemberton), anthropology (Elena Butti from Oxford University), as well as criminology and political science. Many of the guests were students/academics (including for e.g. Sussex University and the Geneva Academy) but also NGO representatives (e.g. Case Matrix Network, Advocates for Hope Uganda and many others).

The observations expressed during the seminar are surely going to inspire a future generation of transitional justice scholars

The issues addressed included whether Transitional Justice  can be really transformative in the sense of tackling causes of conflict and structural inequality,  the challenges for human rights and transitional justice, intersections and conflicts between Transitional Justice and struggles for transformation, the impact of Transitional Justice on democratic/autocratic regime consolidation and the means of repression the authoritarian regimes use to affect working conditions. Various case studies were presented for e.g. the case of Tunisia, the story of outcast youths and social injustice in Colombia, symbolic reparations and social injustice in post-war Croatia, police oversight and reform in Kenya, reparations for the Cham in Cambodia and the means of repression the authoritarian regimes use to affect working conditions.

The seminar was a great success, the distinguished speakers’ insights into Transitional Justice , coming from so many different disciplines, were much appreciated by the audience and rich discussions followed afterwards. Some of the astute observations expressed during the seminar are surely going to inspire a  future generation of transitional justice scholars.