A/HRC/36/50/Add.1
82.
These differences call into question the appropriateness and relevance of
transposing, without modification, measures that were initially developed as a response to
authoritarianism and (overly) strong States into fragile, post-conflict contexts. These
measures presupposed the feasibility of relatively easy attributions of responsibility, strong
institutions, high degrees of capacity and a manageable set of potential beneficiaries of the
different transitional justice measures (relative to institutional capacities and resources). In
post-conflict or fragile contexts, however, none of those presuppositions prevail. In addition
to deep resource scarcities and capacity deficits in general, institutions relating to criminal
justice may be weak or non-existent. The capacity and resources needed to implement a
country-wide, large-scale administrative reparations programme may be absent. And
whereas truth-seeking (and the corresponding truth commission model) made sense in postauthoritarian contexts as a foil to violations under the mantle of silence or secrecy, in
contexts in which open conflict occurred, truth-seeking may need further specification and
perhaps call for a different model.
83.
Far from this being an argument in favour of giving up on transitional justice, it is a
call to ensure that the proper preconditions for the implementation of the measures chosen
are established, to choose the best institutional models relative to the context in order to
satisfy the relevant rights, and to devote the necessary time and resources to build the
required capacities.
3.
“Mimicry”
84.
A related challenge facing the field can be captured in terms of what some
economists and organizational sociologists call “isomorphic mimicry”, the tendency to
replicate institutional forms regardless of context and even of the specificities of the ends
sought. There has been much discussion in the field about the “templatization” of
transitional justice, as if it were a model that could or should be adopted in the same way in
every place. So rather than starting with the question, “What are the most effective ways of
realizing under particular circumstances the rights to truth, justice, reparation, and nonrecurrence?”, this question is sidestepped and efforts to implement a familiar set of
initiatives and institutions are undertaken as if there were no choices to be made. The
Special Rapporteur takes this opportunity to call once again for putting front and centre of
transitional justice work the ends sought, the realization of a specific set of rights, rather
than the reproduction of particular institutional forms.
4.
Overemphasis on technocratic responses, institutional measures at the expense of
cultural and individual interventions
85.
The tendency to concentrate on institutions overshadows other dimensions of
transitional justice work on which the sustainability of the institutional responses will also
depend. In previous reports, the Special Rapporteur has warned against reducing
transitional justice to a technocratic exercise as if it were simply a matter of clever
institutional design. The success of transitional justice ultimately is reflected in (and also
rests upon) changes at the level of culture and of individual convictions and dispositions.
Achieving a high degree of social integration in the wake of massive and systematic
violations calls for many different types of contributions including those designed to
explore the many-layered legacies of those violations in the lives of individuals and
communities, those designed to awaken empathy and solidarity, to gain new levels of
tolerance and respect, aside from those that give meaning to the legal notion of rights.
Education, various forms of cultural products and interventions and an open and accessible
public sphere, among others, are dimensions of transitional justice work that have not
received as much attention as they deserve.
5.
Coordination with development and security policies
86.
In all transitional contexts, but particularly in the weakly institutionalized postconflict countries, it would be a mistake to think that the agenda of transitional justice
exhausts the agenda of transformations that these countries call for. Truth, justice,
reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence are important tools, but only one part of a
broader justice, security and development agenda that most post-conflict countries certainly
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