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This case study demonstrates that the Transitional Justice Institute (TJI) peace process research has substantially impacted on key stakeholders in multiple conflicted and post-conflict states. Impacts include developing sustained relationships with public officials to inform policymaking, making recommendations for legal changes, capacity building with local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) on peace process issues and addressing conflict-related abuses, informing public debate, and raising awareness of international and comparative legal standards among local judiciaries subsequently applied in their work. Impacts have benefited a range of users and contributed to growing sensitivity to victims' needs in conflict resolution.
Based on its internationally recognised reframing of transitional justice (TJ) theory and practice, TJI demonstrates singular influence on the tone, language, framing and outcomes of key debates, policies and advocacy in Northern Ireland (NI) since 2003. TJI research has informed political debate and influenced official recommendations on institutions to address the legacy of the conflict; shaped the policy positions and enhanced the capacity of local non- governmental organisations (NGOs); shared in the production of cultural knowledge in a unique law-led artistic collaboration; raised public awareness of the intergenerational aspects of the conflict's legacy; and empowered marginalised individuals. TJI's critiques of local TJ approaches and our development of the TJ Toolkit have demonstrable global applicability. The impact has been primarily regional, with national and international dimensions.
The Build the Truce (BTT) project, undertaken at the University of Manchester (UoM), considers the challenges involved in establishing and maintaining a truce during times of conflict. Findings from the research provided the basis for two innovative exhibitions, co-funded by the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS). First, an interactive multimedia display at the Imperial War Museum London (IWML), included as an official part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Second, a Big Picture Show (BPS); part of the rolling programme at the Imperial War Museum North (IWMN). Together these exhibitions, associated public engagement activities and workshops, have both challenged and altered public perceptions of truce, as well as offering a valuable example of how complex and controversial topics can be presented within a museum setting.
The key recommendations of the `hybrid model' of the Justice System in Afghanistan, developed by Dr Wardak, were written into draft Afghanistan law under the title, `The Law on Dispute Resolution, Shuras and Jirgas', by the Ministry of Justice. The ideas derived from Wardak's new model were piloted in different parts of Afghanistan by the United States Institute of Peace, by USAID, TLO and CPAU. Preliminary results of pilot studies, in selected districts in Afghanistan, indicate that the hybrid model provides workable solutions to many of the problems that Afghan state and non-state justice systems currently face.
New democracies face the critical challenge of dealing with past abuses of human rights. Professor Leigh Payne`s empirical research on transitional justice concludes that while no single mechanism successfully achieves the strengthening of democracy, human rights, and peace, combinations of prosecutions and amnesties (with or without `truth commissions') increase the likelihood of improved democracy and human rights measures. These findings have not only shaped the debate over transitional justice; they have played a key role in constructing and endorsing the policy decisions made by a range of political actors: victims` groups, NGOs, INGOs, policymakers, politicians, judges, and prosecutors. They have shaped policy debate, laws, practices, demands, and methodological approaches to transitional justice in Brazil and Colombia; and had a direct and specific impact on policies regarding the violent past in Uruguay.
The impact here relates to Kieran McEvoy's research on the development of Community Restorative Justice (CRJ) in Northern Ireland. The reach of this impact has been three-fold. First, McEvoy's research was central in persuading the Irish Republican Army (IRA) to change their policy and practice and to ultimately end punishment violence completely. No IRA sanctioned punishment attack has occurred between 2008 and 2013. Second, his research led directly to the establishment and development of ten lawful and non-violent CRJ projects, now staffed largely by former IRA activists which replaced the previous system of paramilitary vigilante justice. Third, McEvoy's research on CRJ has led to a collaborative relationship on the ground between previously estranged Republican communities and the police in Northern Ireland via these CRJI programmes from 2008 to 2013
Cherry Leonardi's research on local justice and traditional authority in Southern (now South) Sudan has influenced government policies and international aid agency programmes in the justice and governance sectors. It informed the drafting of a local government act by the Government of Southern Sudan [text removed for publication], by emphasising the importance and resilience of chiefship as a local institution of government and justice. It has also influenced the design of internationally-funded access to justice programmes in South Sudan, by recommending a bottom- up, empirical approach to judicial reform that focuses on the experiences and needs of litigants and local justice providers.
Nigel Eltringham's research has enabled him to contribute to the creation of a regional mechanism for the prevention of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in the Great Lakes Region of Africa under the auspices of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) and the office of the UN Secretary General's Special Advisor for the Prevention of Genocide (OSAPG). This is the only mechanism of its kind in the world. Eltringham's contribution is based on delivering training and facilitating workshops, using the findings of his research, which directly resulted in the formation of a series of committees, co-ordination offices and programmes designed to prevent genocide.
Research on mediation practice and conflict regulation contributed to the development of resources to enhance professional training standards and democratic participation in conflict-ridden societies. The researchers' work has focused on: a) post-genocide diaspora groups emphasizing the transformative effects of new social networking facilities; b) professional standards in conflict resolution practice; and c) power-sharing arrangements addressing gaps in minority-group representation. Scholarly work on conflict resolution capacity has had an impact on intergovernmental bodies, the media and transnational communities and has demonstrably produced innovative training methods for NGOs and conflict practitioners as well as resources to safeguard inclusivity in divided societies.
The Middle East, Central Asia and Caucasus (the MECAC region) houses some of the most intractable conflicts in the world that demand fresh ideas and proposals about building stable societies and economies. The Institute of Middle East, Central Asia and Caucasus Studies (MECACS) has co-ordinated underpinning research to grapple with these challenges, and its impact includes (a) the local and Western policy-making community reassessing their policies and behaviour in key areas of foreign policy-making and conflict resolution; b) reports, cultural artefacts and exhibitions that have been used by civil society activists and cultural entrepreneurs to strengthen inter-communal dialogue and reflection; and c) a radical improvement in the career opportunities of individuals and the sustainability of institutions of higher education. The research has encouraged diverse benefits to Western policy-makers and to a broad set of regional actors. Involving both the political and regional elites representing sectors of society, culture and education, the influence of the research has been penetrating, comprehensive and self-sustaining.