news
- Book Release (2009)
Building a Future on Peace and Justice
Kai Ambos; Judith Large; Marieke Wierda, (Eds.)
Studies on Transitional Justice, Peace and Development
The Nuremberg Declaration on Peace and Justice
Online and hardcover version available
- Press Release
June 20, 2008:
Press Statement: Nuremberg Declaration on Peace and Justice (pdf; 10 KB)
- Press Release
June 27, 2007:
Press Statement at the conclusion of the Conference (pdf; 60 KB)
- Press Release
June 25, 2007:
Federal Minister Steinmeier opens Peace Conference in Nuremberg: "Peace and reconciliation cannot be achieved by thinking in black and white" (pdf; 10 KB)
Parallel workshops
Tuesday, 26 June 2007, 14.30 - 18.00 h
Workshop 9:
Justice Mechanisms and the Question of Legitimacy:
Concepts and Challenges
Panel:
Chair: Jürg Lindenmann, Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs
Experts:
1. Pierre Hazan, City of Geneva
2. Refik Hodžic, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
3. Barbara Oomen, Roosevelt Academy, Utrecht University
4. Habib Nassar, Human Rights First
English
Interpreting service into French and German
Workshop abstract:
The Question of legitimacy of justice mechanisms is particularly vital for their acceptance in post conflict societies and thus for their potential to contribute to peace and justice. The classical notion that sees legality of sovereign state power as the sole basis of legitimacy is, however, increasingly challenged by social and cultural sources of legitimacy. This in fact makes the question of legitimacy a battleground for ascendance to power in connection to the quest for peace and justice in post conflict societies.
The workshop is going to highlight the importance of coming to terms with a range of varying concepts of legitimacy when pursuing justice and peace in transitional justice situations. It aims at clarifying concepts and dimensions of legitimacy underlying different justice mechanisms and used and perceived by different internal and external actors. Questions asked will include how new concepts of legitimacy may be created in the quest for peace and justice; what some of the main challenges may be stemming from the range of dimensions of legitimacy and how these influence processes of transitional justice situations.
Three cases will illustrate different dimensions of legitimacy: Bosnia is faced with changing perceptions of legitimacy as international criminal justice is giving way to the strengthening of the national criminal justice system. The case of Lebanon will reveal how the evolving debate about truth and justice affect the quest for peace in this country. Finally, the "multilayered" legitimacy having been created in Rwanda for the last decade raises many questions about the coexistence of different mechanisms applied by various internal and external actors.
The concluding question will be whether models of (emergent) legitimacy may be developed that are linked to certain transitional justice situations and actors. Two papers will be commissioned on "Justice Mechanisms and the Question for Legitimacy - The example of Rwanda's multilayered Justice Mechanisms" and on "Lebanon - Perceptions of International Criminal Justice and Their Repercussions on the Conflict Context" to inform the discussion.
Workshop responsible:
Co-organised by the Working Group on Development and Peace (FriEnt), and the Center for Peacebuilding (KOFF) - swisspeace