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Abstract
This paper explores the importance of integrating a coexistence lens into transitional justice theory and practice. Transitional justice seeks to address a legacy of large-scale past abuses. In societies that have suffered from violent intergroup conflict, this legacy includes divided communities and widespread distrust and fear of the ‘other’. Transitional justice processes and mechanisms, however, are unlikely to repair intergroup relationships, transform communities or eliminate tensions in the absence of specific attention to promote coexistence. The field of coexistence provides a framework for thinking about intergroup relations and interdependence. Coexistence initiatives—such as dialogue facilitation, intergroup projects and associations aimed at achieving shared goals, and media campaigns designed to reframe the ‘other’—are essential to restoring trust, transforming perceptions and rebuilding relationships. Looking at countries that have experienced violent intergroup conflict, in particular Bosnia and Herzegovina, the paper provides examples of coexistence initiatives that have achieved successes in changing attitudes, repairing relationships and strengthening communities—and discusses their potential to contribute to transitional justice processes and mechanisms.
Notes
1. CitationFletcher and Weinstein, ‘Violence and Social Repair’, 576–577. See also CitationPouligny et al., After Mass Crime; Stover and Weinstein, My Neighbor, My Enemy; CitationRichters et al., ‘Reconciliation in the Aftermath’.
2. Halpern and Weinstein, ‘Empathy and Rehumanization’; CitationBar-Tal, ‘Collective Emotions in Conflict’; CitationAjdukovic and Corkalo, ‘Trust and Betrayal’.
3. OSCE, War Crimes Trials, 3.
4. CitationDahlman and Tuathail, ‘Legacy of Ethnic Cleansing’, 573.
5. UN Department of Public Information, 1995. The UN and the Situation in the Former Yugoslavia, 65–66, in CitationRosand, ‘The Right to Return’, 1098.
6. CitationBiro et al., ‘Attitudes Toward Justice’, 188–189.
7. Ajdukovic and Corkalo, ‘Trust and Betrayal’, 292; CitationCorkalo et al., ‘Neighbors Again?’, 145.
8. CitationUvin, ‘Ethnicity and Power’, 253. The ethnic breakdown was approximately 85–90 per cent Hutu, 10–14 per cent Tutsi, and 1 per cent Twa.
9. Uvin, ‘Ethnicity and Power’.
10. Uvin, ‘Ethnicity and Power’
11. Richters et al., ‘Reconciliation in the Aftermath’, 205.
12. CitationColletta and Cullen, ‘The Nexus between Violent Conflict’, 18–20; Uvin, ‘Ethnicity and Power’, 260–261; Richters et al., ‘Reconciliation in the Aftermath’, 205–206.
13. CitationBar-Tal and Bennink, ‘The Nature of Reconciliation’; Colletta and Cullen, ‘The Nexus between Violent Conflict’; CitationHalpern and Weinstein, ‘Empathy and Rehumanization’.
14. CitationUnited Nations Security Council, The Rule of Law, 4.
15. Processes that involve the examination of employment and other records for the purposes of hiring or firing, as defined by the International Centre for Transitional Justice. The screening and vetting of individuals, particularly in the security and justice sectors, is widely recognised as a key measure of governance reform: http://www.ictj.net/approaches.asp#vet.
16. CitationOduro, Emerging Definitions of Reconciliation, 2–3. See also CitationHamber and Kelly, ‘Towards a Working Definition’.
17. Fletcher and Weinstein, ‘Violence and Social Repair’, 638.
18. CitationChapman, ‘Approaches to Studying Reconciliation’, 160.
19. CitationBloomfield, ‘Reconciliation: an Introduction’, 12.
20. These may include retributive, distributive, procedural and restorative justice.
21. CitationBarsalou, Trauma and Transitional Justice; Chapman, ‘Approaches to Studying Reconciliation’; Halpern and Weinstein, ‘Empathy and Rehumanization’; CitationStover and Weinstein, ‘A Common Objective’.
22. Barsalou, Trauma and Transitional Justice, 6.
23. CitationThoms et al., The Effects of Transitional Justice; CitationThoms, Ron and Paris, ‘State-Level Effects of Transitional Justice’.
24. Richters et al., ‘Reconciliation in the Aftermath’.
25. CitationAiken, ‘Learning to Live Together’.
26. See CitationArthur, Identities in Transition; CitationCobb, ‘Fostering Coexistence’; CitationSluzki, ‘The Pathway from Conflict’.
27. See CitationFranović, Dealing with the Past.
28. CitationStover, ‘Witnesses and the Promise’.
29. Fletcher and Weinstein, ‘Violence and Social Repair’, 601.
30. See CitationRosenberg, ‘What's Law Got to Do with It?’; Stover and Weinstein, ‘A Common Objective’.
31. Fletcher and Weinstein, ‘Violence and Social Repair’, 601.
32. Stover and Weinstein, ‘A Common Objective’, 323.
33. Barsalou, Trauma and Transitional Justice.
34. CitationWeiner, ‘Coexistence Work: A New Profession’. See also CitationBerns and Fitzduff, What is Coexistence.
35. Bar-Tal and Bennink, ‘The Nature of Reconciliation’.
36. Weiner ‘Coexistence Work: A New Profession’.
37. Weiner ‘Coexistence Work: A New Profession’
38. CitationChayes and Minow, ‘Imagining Coexistence in Conflict Communities’, xx.
39. Weiner, ‘Coexistence Work: A New Profession’; CitationKriesberg, ‘Changing Forms of Coexistence’, 48; CitationChayes, ‘Bureaucratic Obstacles to Imagining Coexistence’, 153.
40. See CitationAfzali and Colleton ‘Constructing Coexistence’; CitationKumar, Promoting Social Reconciliation.
41. Colletta and Cullen, ‘The Nexus between Violent Conflict’; CitationPickering, ‘Generating Social Capital’.
42. See Aiken, ‘Learning to Live Together’; Arthur, Identities in Transition; Barsalou, Trauma and Transitional Justice; Chapman, ‘Approaches to Studying Reconciliation’; Stover and Weinstein, ‘A Common Objective’.
43. Arthur, Identities in Transition, 16.
44. Chapman, ‘Approaches to Studying Reconciliation’, 159.
45. CitationDaly and Sarkin, Reconciliation in Divided Societies, cited in Chapman, Approaches to Studying Reconciliation, 60.
46. Stover and Weinstein, ‘A Common Objective’, 332.
47. CitationBerns and Musah, ‘Reflection: What We've Learned’, 2.
48. Social learning involves learning to relate positively to others.
49. These questions are drawn from Arthur, Identities in Transition, 13–14; and CitationMusah, ‘Keynote Address’, 10.
50. See CitationRogan, ‘Facilitating Local Multiethnic Governance’; CitationHalpern and Weinstein, ‘Rehumanizing the Other’.
51. Sluzki, ‘The Pathway from Conflict’, 14.
52. Biro et al., ‘Attitudes Toward Justice’, 201
53. This section is drawn in part from previously published work. Haida Huma, 2009. ‘(Re)–Imagining Coexistence: Striving for Sustainable Return, Reintegration and Reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina’. International Journal of Transitional Justice 3(1), 91–113.
54. Ajdukovic and Corkalo, ‘Trust and Betrayal’, 301.
55. See Franović, Dealing with the Past; CitationRasmussen, ‘Negotiating a Revolution’; Chayes and Minow, ‘Imagining Coexistence in Conflict Communities’; CitationPaffenholz, ‘Civil Society and Peacebuilding’.
56. CitationAmir, ‘Contact Hypothesis in Ethnic Relations’ 170.
57. CitationBlagojevic, ‘Peacebuilding in Ethnically Divided Societies’.
58. UNCHR, Citation Imagine Coexistence Project Report .
59. Chayes, ‘Bureaucratic Obstacles to Imagining Coexistence’, 152–153.
60. UNCHR, Imagine Coexistence Project Report.
61. Interview with UNHCR senior field clerk, Banja Luka, BiH, 14 July 2006; interview with former Bosnian Serb returnee to Drvar and former UNHCR officer, Sarajevo, BiH, 18 July 2006.
62. Interviews with local development workers, Sarajevo, BiH, 20 and 21 July 2006; Adjukovic and Corkalo, ‘Trust and Betrayal in War’.
63. Adjukovic and Corkalo, ‘Trust and Betrayal in War’.
64. CitationChigas and Ganson, ‘Grand Visions and Small Projects’, 67–68.
65. UNCHR, Imagine Coexistence Project Report, Appendix B.
66. CitationBabbitt, ‘Evaluating Coexistence: Insights and Challenges’; UNCHR, Imagine Coexistence Project Report, Appendix B.
67. UNCHR, Imagine Coexistence Project Report, Appendix B.
68. Interview with Bosnian NGO worker, Banja Luka, BiH, 14 July 2006.
69. CitationFletcher School, Imagine Coexistence, 40. This pertains to both Bosnia and Herzegovina and Rwanda.
70. Interview with former Bosnian Serb returnee to Drvar and former UNHCR officer, Sarajevo, BiH, 18 July 2006.
71. UNCHR, Imagine Coexistence Project Report, Appendix B.
72. Interview with Bosnian NGO worker, Banja Luka, BiH, 14 July 2006.
73. Chigas and Ganson, ‘Grand Visions and Small Projects’, 68.
74. Fletcher School, Imagine Coexistence, 40.
75. Fletcher School, Imagine Coexistence.
76. Fletcher School, Imagine Coexistence See also Babbitt, ‘Evaluating Coexistence: Insights and Challenges’.
77. Fletcher School, Imagine Coexistence.
78. Interview with Bosnian NGO worker, Sarajevo, BiH, 20 July 2006.
79. Halpern and Weinstein, ‘Rehumanizing the Other’.
80. Fletcher School, Imagine Coexistence, 31.
81. Fletcher School, Imagine Coexistence
82. CitationUNHCR, Income and Coexistence.
83. See CitationMcBride and Patel, ‘Lessons Learned on Community Driven Reconstruction’.
84. Colletta and Cullen, ‘The Nexus between Violent Conflict’.
85. CitationBurde, ‘Weak State, Strong Community?’
86. Pickering, ‘Generating Social Capital’.
87. UMCOR, ‘Final Program Progress Report’; CitationUMCOR Bosnia and Herzegovina website: http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/ngo/balkans/bosnia/bih_usaid.cfm.
88. CitationUNDP, The Ties that Bind, 98.
89. CitationAssociation of Citizens, ‘Civil Initiatives in Integration’, 278.
90. UNDP, The Ties that Bind.
91. CitationBenequista, Putting Citizens at the Centre.
92. CitationSearch for Common Ground, ‘Nashe Maalo’.
93. CitationFraenkel, ‘Nashe Maalo’.
94. Search for Common Ground, Fraenkel, ‘Nashe Maalo’.
95. CitationFraenkel, ‘Changing Attitudes Through Children's Television’.
96. Search for Common Ground, ‘Nashe Maalo’.
97. Search for Common Ground, ‘NasheMaalo’
98. CitationBratic, Examining Peace-Oriented Media.
99. CitationSlachmuijlder, Unsung Heroes.; see also CitationHagos, ‘Media Intervention in Peace Building’.
100. CitationRolt, ‘Our Neighbours, Ourselves’.
101. Our Neighbours, Ourselves had an average audience of 85 per cent of the population.
102. Hagos, ‘Media Intervention in Peace Building’.
103. Hagos, ‘Media Intervention in Peace Building’
104. Slachmuijlder, Unsung Heroes; see also Search for Common Ground Heroes Summit website: http://www.sfcg.org/programmes/burundi/heroes_stories.html.
105. Slachmuijlder, Unsung Heroes; see also Search for Common Ground Heroes Summit website: http://www.sfcg.org/programmes/burundi/heroes_stories.html
106. Rolt, ‘Our Neighbours, Ourselves’
107. Search for Common Ground, ‘Heroes Summit— April 16–18, 2004—Burundi’, http://www.sfcg.org/programmes/burundi/burundi_hero.html; see also CitationPark, Reflections on Inkingiy'Ubuntu.
108. Chigas and Ganson, ‘Grand Visions and Small Projects’, 76.
109. Fletcher School, Imagine Coexistence.
110. Chigas and Ganson, ‘Grand Visions and Small Projects’; Halpern and Weinstein, ‘Empathy and Rehumanization’; Stover and Weinstein, ‘A Common Objective’.
111. Chigas and Ganson, ‘Grand Visions and Small Projects’, 82; Fletcher School, Imagine Coexistence, 37; Halpern and Weinstein, ‘Empathy and Rehumanization’, 314; Pickering, ‘Generating Social Capital’, 97; CitationBurns et al., ‘Imagine Coexistence Pilot Projects’, 98.
112. Babbitt, ‘Evaluating Coexistence: Insights and Challenges’.
113. Fletcher School, Imagine Coexistence.
114. Benequista, Putting Citizens at the Centre.
115. Chigas and Ganson, ‘Grand Visions and Small Projects’, 72–73.
116. CitationLaplante, ‘Transitional Justice and Peace Building’.