Transitional Justice in Burundi- Weekly Seminar

Update: Podcast of this presentation available here.

Sandra Rubli, a research analyst from swisspeace will be speaking on ‘Transitional Justice as an Instrument for Political Struggles in Burundi’. Sandra has been conducting detailed research into state formation in Burundi and will be picking up on some the themes discussed by Stef Vandeginste and debated on the OTJR Blog.

Sandra’s talk will be held in Seminar Room D in the Manor Road building at 5 pm this Tuesday 21 February and will be followed by wine and snacks in the Centre for Socio-legal Studies.

Aidan Russell comments on Stef Vandeginste’s presentation

Burundi’s curious history with transitional justice is coming to a crucial new phase. Fifty years of crimes, genocide and civil war look to be subjected to institutions of account, while politics retreats from ethnicity as the foremost definition of division. But can the entirety of Burundi’s postcolonial experience be treated equally, even as violence continues in the country? Popular demands for justice provide the much-needed impetus to see these processes enacted, but in compromised form they risk failing the needs and expectations of the people.

Stef Vandeginste provided us with an extremely thorough and stimulating analysis of this current state of transition in Burundi.

OTJR Week 5: Stef Vandeginste on Burundi

This week Oxford Transitional Justice Research (OTJR) continues with its lunchtime discussions and Tuesday seminar. Stef Vandeginste will give a public lecture at 5pm entitled ‘Burundi: Peace, power-sharing and amnesty in disguise. What are the prospects for the a truth and reconciliation commission?’

Stef is a Post-doctoral Research Fellow at Universiteit Antwerpen and one of the leading authorities on domestic justice processes in Burundi. He has just returned from Burundi where he contributed to the work of the Government’s “Technical Committee in charge of preparing for the establishment of transitional justice mechanisms”. This committee submitted its report to the Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza on 19 October 2011. The report includes a draft bill on the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Burundi, to be tabled in parliament in the coming months, some eleven years after the signature of the Arusha peace agreement which first announced the establishment of a TRC. An abstract of Stef’s presentation is included below and it promises to be a fascinating discussion.

ABSTRACT

‘Burundi: Peace, power-sharing and amnesty in disguise. What are the prospects for the a truth and reconciliation commission?’

Eleven years after the signature of the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement, Burundi is currently preparing for the establishment of a truth and reconciliation commission. Seemingly in accordance with the contemporary transitional justice paradigm, the situation of Burundi offers interesting insights into the implementation of the paradigm in troubled transition processes. For more than a decade, the stated commitment to truth and justice has, in actual reality, led to an amnesty in disguise. Power-sharing was probably the main explanatory factor for the continued impunity. At the same time, in the specific Burundian context, power-sharing also was the main avenue towards inter-ethnic reconciliation.”