Introduction
Sierra Leone’s decade-long civil war, a conflict marked by extreme acts of systematic violence on all sides, wound to a close in January 2002 with the signing of a peace agreement between the government and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel forces. Transitional justice mechanisms were an integral part of the post-conflict period, first [...]
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From 20 to 21 April 2013, I attended the 2nd High-Level Tana Forum on Security in Africa, which was conducted under the theme: “Security and Organized Crime in Africa.” In attendance were several heads of states and former presidents, ambassadors, policy makers from regional and international organisations, activists, intellectuals and others. The [...]
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Reclaiming Activism
For most of my adult life I introduced myself as an “activist” first and a writer, researcher, or practitioner of humanitarian action or peacemaking second. Then, about seven or eight years ago, I became rather uncomfortable with the word. Not because I had diluted my personal commitment to working in solidarity with suffering [...]
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The legal truth seeking by courageous Guatemalans will continue, even if the Constitutional Court annuls the trial to date and returns it to a previous stage with a new judge who, in the past, has institutionalised impunity through a series of questionable rulings. This ongoing process is essential to prevent genocidal history from repeating itself or, in fact, from rhyming and places at the centre of the debate the question as to whether, at least in the minds of the victims, the genocide and its enduring impact have indeed ever ended.
Continue Reading →Remarks at the Tana High-Level Forum on Security in Africa, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, 20 April 2012.
The first step in mastering a problem is to understand it, and to analyze the interests and logics of those who have ready responses on offer. If Africans do not first define the question of what sort of [...]
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The coincidence of two news items about Burma/Myanmar today demand brief commentary: 1) International Crisis Group is honoring President U Thein Sein at its annual dinner, and 2) Human Rights Watch released a damning report about assaults against Burma’s Rohingya minority.
The most common way that atrocities against civilians end is when the perpetrators themselves [...]
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