Transitional Justice and Violent Extremism

i n s t i t u t e f o r i n t e g r at e d t r a n s i t i o n s Transitional Justice and Violent Extremism September 2020 About IFIT The Institute for Integrated Transitions (IFIT) aims to help fragile and conflict-affected states achieve more sustainable transitions out of war or authoritarianism by serving as an independent expert resource for locally-led efforts to improve political, economic, social and security conditions. IFIT seeks to transform current practice away from fragmented inter- ventions and toward more integrated solutions that strengthen peace, democracy and human rights in countries attempting to break cycles of conflict or repression. The ideas in this publication are informed by the diverse global experiences of IFIT’s Law and Peace Practice Group, whose members have had direct involvement in the negotiation of amnesty and accountability issues in over 20 countries. About the Project This publication is part of a project that aims to fill a major gap in policy making: the fail- ure to integrate lessons learnt and best practices from the field of transitional justice in relation to conflict resolution strategies with two kinds of unconventional armed actors: 1) “violent extremist” groups, such as jihadists; and 2) organised crime groups, such as mafia, gang networks and drug cartels. IFIT’s work on the former began in 2017 with the UN University Centre for Policy Research (UNU-CPR). The project was concerned with the fact that, to date, what has reigned is an overwhelmingly punitive and dragnet approach which, rather than helping address root causes and break cycles of resentment and violence, instead risks renewing or reinforcing them. This resulted in three jointly-published case studies (ISIS in Iraq, Al-Shabaab in Somalia, and Boko Haram in Nigeria) and an initial policy framework. Building on this initial work, IFIT launched a second phase of research in 2019 on the same broad topic, drawing on lessons from a wider range of country situations where comparable challenges have been grappled with, in order to provide expanded guidance for policymakers. This involved fieldwork-based reports covering Libya (focused on the LIFG), Uganda (focused on the LRA), and Afghanistan (focused on the Taliban), all of which examine the intersection of negotiation and transitional justice goals. IFIT commissioned additional taxonomy research to plot identifiable similarities and differences of motivation, structure, and context along a wide spectrum of different archetypes of non-state or unconventional armed groups. All of this informed a final framework that aims to help policymakers tailor more effective negotiation and transitional justice strategies to address root causes, break cycles of violence, and strengthen the rule of law in settings affected by violent extremism. About the Project Team Hanny Megally Hanny Megally coordinated the project. He is a Senior Fellow at New York University’s Center on International Cooperation (CIC), where he focuses on violent extremism, human rights and rule of law. Prior to joining CIC, Megally served as Chief of the Asia, Pacific, Middle East and North Africa Branch at the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. Previously, he was Vice-President for Programs at the Interna- tional Center for Transitional Justice, which he joined in 2003. He has nearly forty years of experience in the field of human rights, transitional justice and conflict resolution, having begun his professional career at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International in 1977. From 1984 to 1994, he headed the Middle East Research Department at Amnesty International in London. He later ran the Ford Foundation’s social justice program in the Middle East from the Foundation’s Cairo office, and from 1997 to 2003 he served as the Executive Director of the Middle East and North Africa Division of Human Rights Watch. Mr. Megally has overseen country programs and travelled extensively in the MENA and Asia/ Pacific regions, including leading human rights investigation missions and conducting high-level discussions with heads of state and governments. He is a widely sought after commentator on human rights and political developments, particularly in the MENA region. Ronald C. Slye Ron Slye is the author of the Policy Framework of this project. He is a Pro- fessor of Law at the Seattle University School of Law. He is an internationally-recognised expert in international criminal law, transitional justice, and international human rights law, and is co-author of a best-selling casebook in the United States, International Crim- inal Law and Its Enforcement (Foundation Press). He taught in the clinical program at the Yale Law School and served as the Associate Director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School. Professor Slye has provided advice to countries in their efforts to address a legacy of gross violations of human rights, including Tunisia, Colombia, Burundi, and Uganda. He is a legal advisor and board member of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, which has addressed the legacy of the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge. He was a legal consultant to the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission from 1996 to 2000. From 2009 to 2013, Professor Slye served as one of three international commissioners (and the only commissioner not from Africa) on the Kenyan Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission. His experience with the Kenyan truth commission is the subject of his book, The Kenyan TJRC: And Outsider’s View from the Inside (Cambridge U Press). Slye received his B.A. from Columbia University, his M.Phil in International Relations from the University of Cambridge, and his J.D. from the Yale Law School. Barney Afako Barney Afako is the author of the Uganda case study. He is a lawyer and a mediation advisor. He has advised mediation and negotiation processes in Uganda, including as principal legal advisor to the Chief Mediator of the Uganda LRA negotiations, where he worked closely with both parties in drafting the Agreements. In 2009, he supported the African Union Panel on Darfur as a legal advisor, and thereafter has worked with the African Union High Level Implementation Panel on Sudan and South Sudan on the negotiations for the secession of South Sudan, and the relations between the two Sudans; and on Horn of Africa issues. As a member of the UN Standby Team of Senior Mediation Advisors, between 2016 and 2019, he supported several processes, including Yemen and South Sudan negotiations, and rendered advice on UN transitional justice strategies, including on the Western Balkans. He is a member of IFIT’s Law and Peace and Practice Group and of the United Nations Commission for Human Rights in South Sudan. Mary Fitzgerald Mary Fitzgerald is one of the authors of the Libya case study. She is a researcher specialising in the Euro-Mediterranean region with a particular focus on Libya. She has reported on and researched Libya since February 2011 and lived there in 2014. She has conducted research on Libya for the International Crisis Group (ICG), the Euro- pean Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMED) and the European University Institute (EUI) among others. She has consulted for a number of international organisations working in Libya including in the areas of conflict mediation, local governance, civil society and youth empowerment. Her reporting on Lib- ya has appeared in publications including the Economist, Foreign Policy, the New Yorker, the Financial Times, and the Guardian. She is a contributing author to an edited volume on the Libyan revolution and its aftermath published by Hurst/Oxford University Press. Emadeddin Badi Emadeddin Badi is one of the authors of the Libya case study. He is a Libyan independent consultant and researcher that specializes in governance, post-conflict stabilization, hybrid security structures and peacebuilding. After gaining hands-on development experience designing the conflict-sensitive implementation of a flagship stabilization initiative implemented across Libya, Emad worked on multiple research and policy-oriented projects with various institutions – including the American Bar Associa- tion, the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF), Geneva Call, the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, the Royal Institute for International Affairs (Chatham House) and Saferworld, among others. He has conducted regular field research in North Africa, primarily on avenues for reform of Libya’s security institutions, war economies, hybrid security and cross-border crime. Emad is currently a non-resident Senior Fellow with the Middle East Program at the Atlantic Council. Previously, he was a non-resident Scholar at the Counterterrorism and Extremism Program at the Middle East Institute as well as resident Policy Leader Fellow at the European University Institute’s School of Transnational Governance. His work on Libya has been published widely, including on the Brookings Institution, Chatham House, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Foreign Policy, the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage Blog, World Politics Review, War on the Rocks, and many others. Dr Orzala Nemat Dr. Orzala Nemat is one of the authors of the Afghanistan case study. She is an expert in political ethnography holding a PhD in Development Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (UK). Her research interests include governance, conflict, gender & human rights, illicit economies, borderlands and state-building. She is the director of Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU). Dr Srinjoy Bose Dr Sinjoy Bose is one of the authors of the Afghanistan case study. He is Senior Lecturer in Politics & International Relations at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. He researches topics in political order and violence, and the political economy of state-building and peacebuilding in “fragile” and deeply divided states and societies.

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