The effectiveness of transitional justice mechanisms in Afghanistan Dissertation

The effectiveness of transitional justice mechanisms in Afghanistan. Is justice complementary or contradictory - Dissertation Example From decades of persistent strife and suffering to establishing the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, the country has come a long way towards the establishment of peace and security in the nation. However the success of transitional justice processes in the country remains precarious due to the ongoing security issues, political instability, and lack of political will. Recent years have however shown significant progress towards restoring normalcy in the country as is apparent from the rising awareness among the public and the need to end the culture of impunity. List of abbreviations used AIHRC Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission AC Amnesty Community ANDS Afghan National Development Strategy ARTF Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund HRVC Human Rights Violations Committee ICC International Criminal Court ICTJ International Centre for Transitional Justice CSO Civil Society Organisation DDR Disarmament Demobilization and Reintegration HRW Human Rights Watch RRC R eparations and Rehabilitation Committee SATRC South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission TJCG Transitional Justice Coordination Group TRC Truth and Reconciliation Commission Contents Ch. No. Topic Pg. No. 1. Introduction and Methodology 5 1.1. Introduction 5 1.2. Aim 6 1.3. Method and outline 7 1.4. Limitations 9 1.5. Literature Review 10 2. Transitional Justice in Afghanistan 17 2.1. History of transitional justice 18 2.2. Bonn Agreement 21 2.3. Current status of transitional justice in Afghanistan 23 3. Challenges to transitional justice in Afghanistan 26 3.1. Political environment 27 3.2. Lack of international and domestic political will for justice 28 3.3. Weak and malfunctioning judiciary 30 4. Interventions aimed at effective transitional justice 34 4.1. Truth and reconciliation commissions 34 4.2. Amnesty 40 4.3. Legal Reforms 43 4.4. Lustration 44 5. Recommendations for effective transitional justice 45 5.1. Evaluation of successful transitional justice in South Afric a 48 5.2. Recommendations for effective transitional justice in Afghanistan 60 6. Conclusion 64 1. Introduction and Methodology â€Å"Peace is the only battle worth waging† Albert Camus1 1.1. Introduction The past couple of decades have witnessed significant progress in terms of the popularity and acknowledgement of transitional justice mechanisms as fundamental to peace building in post conflict countries. The concept of transitional justice entails establishment of various mechanisms such as truth commissions, reparations, trials and judicial proceedings with a view to punish the perpetrators of past crimes and preventing a culture of impunity in the process. However this approach of ‘digging up the past’ has been widely debated in recent years due to the arguments put forward by critics stating that such mechanisms are likely to cause chaos and disrupt the existing peaceful environment leading to severe internal strife and fragmentation of an already divided s ociety. Proponents of the process on the other hand maintain that the transitional justice mechanisms are imperative in order to assist and guide any society from social, cultural and political deterioration towards healing and democracy by restoring human rights and punishing the crimes