Justice in Transition - Prosecution and Amnesty in Germany and South Africa
Title | Justice in Transition - Prosecution and Amnesty in Germany and South Africa PDF eBook |
Author | Gerhard Werle |
Publisher | BWV Verlag |
Pages | 283 |
Release | 2006-01-01 |
Genre | Amnesty |
ISBN | 383051154X |
"The project on 'Criminal Justice and the East German Past' held an international symposium ... from 6 to 9 April 2005 at the Humboldt University in Berlin"--Page v.
Transitional Justice
Title | Transitional Justice PDF eBook |
Author | Gerhard Werle |
Publisher | Springer Nature |
Pages | 160 |
Release | 2022-09-08 |
Genre | Law |
ISBN | 3662651513 |
The expression “transitional justice” emerged at the end of the Cold War, during the transition from dictatorships to democracies, and serves as a central concept in dealing with systemic injustice. This textbook examines the basic principles of transitional justice and explores its core mechanisms, including prosecutions, amnesties, truth commissions, reparations, and vetting the public service. It elaborates the substance and legal framework of these mechanisms and discusses current challenges. The book provides extensive material illustrating a wide variety of transitional justice situations. “This book summarizes the subjects of transitional justice and Vergangenheitsbewältigung systematically and clearly” (Joachim Gauck, German Federal President, 2012-2017).
Transitional Justice and the Rule of Law in New Democracies
Title | Transitional Justice and the Rule of Law in New Democracies PDF eBook |
Author | A. James McAdams |
Publisher | |
Pages | 344 |
Release | 1997 |
Genre | Law |
ISBN |
This is the first focused study on the relationship between the use of national courts to pursue retrospective justice and the construction of viable democracies. Included in this interdisciplinary volume are fascinating, detailed essays on the experiences of eight countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland, and South Africa. According to the contributors, the most important lesson for leaders of new democracies, who are wrestling with the human rights abuses of past dictatorships, is that they have many options. Democratizing regimes are well-advised to be attentive to the significant political, ethical, and legal constraints that may limit their ability to achieve retribution for past wrongs. On prudential ground alone, some fledgling regimes will have no choice but to restrain their desire for punishment in the interest of political survival. However, it would be incorrect to think that all new democracies are therefore bereft of the political and legal resources needed to bring the perpetrators of egregious human rights violations to justice. In many instances, governments have overcome the obstacles before them and, by appealing to both national and international legal standards, have brought their former dictators to trial. When these judicial proceedings have been properly conducted and insulated from partisan political pressures, they have provided tangible evidence of the guiding principles-equality, fairness, and the rule of law-that are essential to the post-authoritarian order. This collection shows that the quest for transitional justice has amounted to something more than merely a break with the past--it constitutes a formative act which directly affects the quality and credibility of democratic institutions.
The Era of Transitional Justice
Title | The Era of Transitional Justice PDF eBook |
Author | Paul Gready |
Publisher | Routledge |
Pages | 607 |
Release | 2010-10-18 |
Genre | Law |
ISBN | 1136902198 |
The Era of Transitional Justice explores a broad set of issues raised by political transition and transitional justice through the prism of the South African TRC. South Africa constitutes a powerful case study of the enduring structural legacies of a troubled past, and of both the potential and limitations of transitional justice and human rights as agents of transformation in the contemporary era. South Africa‘s story has wider relevance because it helped to launch constitutional human rights and transitional justice as global discourses; as such, its own legacy is to some extent writ large in post-authoritarian and post-conflict contexts across the world. Based on a decade of research, and in an analysis that is both comparative and interdisciplinary, Paul Gready maintains that transitional justice needs to do more to address structural violence and in particular poverty, inequality and social and criminal violence as these have emerged as stubborn legacies from an oppressive or war-torn past in many parts of the world. Organised around four central themes new keyword conceptualisation (truth, justice, reconciliation); re-imagining human rights; engaging with the past and present; remaking the public sphere it is an argument that will be of considerable relevance to those interested in the law and politics of transitional societies.
Restoration or retribution - South African and German experiences of dealing with the past
Title | Restoration or retribution - South African and German experiences of dealing with the past PDF eBook |
Author | Patrick Wagner |
Publisher | GRIN Verlag |
Pages | 52 |
Release | 2003-11-11 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 3638231909 |
Bachelor Thesis from the year 2003 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: Miscellaneous, grade: 1 (A), University of Kent (Department of Politics and International Relations), language: English, abstract: Numerous societies who are in a transition period between an authoritarian regime and democracy face the question of how to deal with their past. In most cases the option to forget what has happened and to concentrate only on the future is neither possible nor desired by the people. For many the choice is between setting up a truth commission and dealing with the perpetrators of gross human rights violations in special or conventional courts. Before discussing the South African and the German examples, part one of this paper examines the different concepts of justice proposed by the two mechanisms of dealing with the past. Part two then focuses on the South African experience to deal with the atrocities of the apartheid regime by means of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The commission's approach on how to deal with the past will be discussed alongside both its achievements and shortcomings. The controversial debate about the TRC’s policy to grant amnesty for perpetrators of gross human rights violations in return for the truth shall be a central feature of this part. The German experience and the International Military Tribunal (IMT) at Nuremberg are the topics of part three. One of the most important achievements of the IMT certainly was its impact on international law. For the first time in history, although this was not the primary aim of the tribunal, ‘crimes against humanity’ were part of the allegations against the defendants. On the other hand, the IMT was criticized heavily for constituting victors’ justice and therefore its judgement was argued to be illegitimately imposed. Finally, part four compares the two mechanisms, truth commissions and trials or military tribunals, and seeks to point out their advantages and disadvantages. Clearly, it must be argued that the more traditional approach to achieve justice by punishment pursuit by trials or military tribunals satisfies victims’ desire for retribution better than truth commission could ever do. Nevertheless, truth commissions can be employed in circumstances where trials are impossible as well as they are the only mechanism to break the circle of revenge by promoting forgiveness and reconciliation. However, the problem remains that “reconciliation might be a desired end point but above all it is a process.” (Andrew Rigby) One can thus hardly evaluate the success of a truth commission as the process it possibly initiated takes several generations to show its results.
Necessary Evils
Title | Necessary Evils PDF eBook |
Author | Mark Freeman |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Pages | 375 |
Release | 2009-11-30 |
Genre | Law |
ISBN | 1139485601 |
This book is about amnesties for grave international crimes that states adopt in moments of transition or social unrest. The subject is naturally controversial, especially in the age of the International Criminal Court. The goal of this book is to reframe and revitalise the global debate on the subject and to offer an original framework for resolving amnesty dilemmas when they arise. Most literature and jurisprudence on amnesties deal with only a small subset of state practice and sidestep the ambiguity of amnesty's position under international law. This book addresses the ambiguity head on and argues that amnesties of the broadest scope are sometimes defensible when adopted as a last recourse in contexts of mass violence. Drawing on an extensive amnesty database, the book offers detailed guidance on how to ensure that amnesties extend the minimum leniency possible, while imposing the maximum accountability on the beneficiaries.
Post-trc Prosecutions in South Africa
Title | Post-trc Prosecutions in South Africa PDF eBook |
Author | Ole Bubenzer |
Publisher | BRILL |
Pages | 1 |
Release | 2009 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 9004177035 |
After the transition to democracy in 1994, South Africa implemented an innovative scheme at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, granting perpetrators conditional amnesty. It essentially calls for the prosecution of those who did not receive amnesty for the crimes they committed during the apartheid conflict. This book provides the first comprehensive analysis of prosecutions after the amnesty process. Drawing on interviews with key protagonists and largely unpublished documents, the volume analyses trials and the political background. It scrutinises the issue in the normative framework of national and international human rights law, and addresses whether the prosecutions were adequately carried out. The study thus allows a concluding evaluation of the justice and consistency of South Africa s internationally acclaimed amnesty process.