Constitutional Implementation for Sustainable Peace FBA Research Report | June 2019 Funded by the Folke Bernadotte Academy Authors: Dr Anna Dziedzic and Laureate Professor Emeritus Cheryl Saunders, co-convenors of the Constitution Transformation Network (ConTransNet) at Melbourne Law School Acknowledgements: This project was generously funded by the Folke Bernadotte Academy, and we are grateful to them for their interest in this research and their support. This projected benefitted from oversight by Professor Pip Nicholson, Dean of Melbourne Law School, and input and support from Ms Charmaine Rodrigues, Coordinator of ConTransNet. We also thank Mr Stefan Pislevic and Mr Joshua Quinn-Watson, both from Melbourne Law School, who assisted greatly with preliminary research. A draft of this Report was sent to a small group of practitioners and scholars from Papua New Guinea, including the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, and international experts. While their contribution remains confidential, we express our gratitude to all reviewers for their time, expertise and thoughtful engagement with this project. The Constitution Transformation Network at Melbourne Law School supports the development and implementation of inclusive constitutions globally, with a particular focus on Asia and the Pacific. The ConTransNet team brings together subject matter and country experts in multiple constitutional fields and has supported constitution-building processes in Asia, the Pacific and in conflict-affected countries globally. ConTransNet organises (with International IDEA) an annual Melbourne Forum on Constitution-Building in Asia and the Pacific which brings together regional constitutional experts to exchange good practice and lessons learned, for the practical benefit of ongoing constitution-building processes. ConTransNet team members also regularly run courses at MLS on constitution-making, state- building and comparative constitutional law. https://law.unimelb.edu.au/constitutional-transformations Constitutional Implementation for Sustainable Peace A project funded by the Folke Bernadotte Academy Constitution Transformation Network, Melbourne Law School June 2019 Summary Constitutions can play an important part in sustaining peace. However, the inclusion, in a constitution, of commitments made in the course of a peace agreement is only one step towards achieving sustainable peace. While it is important for some kinds of commitments made in peace agreements to be reflected in the text of the constitution through a process of ‘textual implementation’, these constitutional provisions must themselves be given practical effect, through ‘substantive implementation’. Sustainable peace requires that constitutional inclusion mechanisms not only are legally enshrined, but that they also are given effect in practice. The purpose of this Report is to explore whether and, if so how, the implementation of constitutional inclusion mechanisms (broadly understood) is significant to sustainable peace. This Report develops an analytical framework to firstly assess constitutional implementation and secondly to identify connections between constitutional implementation and sustainable peace. The case of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, within the state of Papua New Guinea, is used as an initial case-study to test this analytical framework and to systematically understand the connections between peace-building, constitutions, implementation and sustainable peace. Table of Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 Part I Connecting peace agreements, constitutions and implementation ........................... 2 1 Peace agreements ................................................................................................................. 3 2 Constitutional change ............................................................................................................ 4 3 Implementation .................................................................................................................... 5 4 Sustainable peace .................................................................................................................. 8 Part II Bougainville case study ........................................................................................ 11 1 Purpose and methodology ................................................................................................... 11 2 Overview of the conflict and the peace process .................................................................... 13 3 Textual implementation ...................................................................................................... 15 3.1 Autonomy for Bougainville .................................................................................................................... 17 3.2 Division of powers and resources .......................................................................................................... 18 3.3 Shared rule ............................................................................................................................................. 20 3.4 Referendum ........................................................................................................................................... 22 3.5 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 23 4 Substantive implementation ................................................................................................ 23 4.1 The quality of autonomy for Bougainville .............................................................................................. 24 4.2 The transfer of powers and resources ................................................................................................... 26 4.3 Shared rule ............................................................................................................................................. 30 4.4 Preparations for the referendum ........................................................................................................... 31 5 Meeting the challenges of constitutional implementation .................................................... 33 5.1 Clarity about the relationship between the Peace Agreement and the Constitution ........................... 34 5.2 Delay and deferral .................................................................................................................................. 35 5.3 Planning for implementation ................................................................................................................. 37 5.4 Supporting people to embrace transformational change...................................................................... 37 5.5 Participation in constitution making ...................................................................................................... 39 Part III Conclusions: The significance of constitutional implementation for sustainable peace ............................................................................................................................. 40 1 Outcomes of constitutional implementation and sustainable peace ...................................... 41 2 Processes of constitutional implementation and sustainable peace ...................................... 42 3 Avenues for further research ............................................................................................... 43 Introduction Peace agreements made in conflict-affected settings often call for constitutional change. In intra-state contexts, where most conflicts presently occur, commitments to constitutional change are increasingly frequent. Changes of this kind commonly involve constitutional inclusion mechanisms, directed to dealing with problems of inequality or exclusion that contributed to the conflict in the first place. Depending on the context, such mechanisms might include changes to the composition and procedures of the institutions of government to ensure all substantial groupings within the state have a say in the decisions of government; special protections for the rights of minority groups; or decentralisation to give communities within the state greater autonomy and responsibility for their own affairs. In such cases, an important part of the implementation of the peace agreement is that commitments of these kinds are enshrined in constitutional law, through a process referred to in this Report as ‘textual implementation’. Importantly, however, these constitutional provisions must themselves be given practical effect, through processes of ‘substantive implementation’, in which constitutional provisions are given effect in law and policies and reflected in political and legal practice. Our hypothesis is that giving effect to constitutional commitments through textual and substantive implementation is likely to make an important contribution to sustainable peace. The purpose of this Report therefore is to explore the relationship between the implementation (both textual and substantive) of constitutional inclusion mechanisms (broadly understood) and sustainable peace. In doing so, the Report also considers, conversely, whether and, if so, how, failures of implementation have the potential to destabilise peace. Part I brings together insights from the literature on peace-building and constitution-making