AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

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Report on Science and Human Rights

Spring 2004 Vol XXIV, No. 1

SHRP Brings Together Social Scientists Working on Transitional Justice and Trauma Issues in Divided Societies

Victoria Baxter

On 27-29 March 2004, the AAAS Science and Human Rights Program organized a conference at the Airlie Conference Center in Warrenton, Virginia. The conference, sponsored by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), brought together social scientists, psychologists and transitional justice practitioners to share their knowledge and research on how divided societies deal with societal trauma and seek justice and reconciliation. Forty-five social scientists, psychologists, and transitional justice practitioners and researchers from different disciplinary perspectives attended the conference.

The impetus for the conference began from the observation that, with respect to issues of common concern, the mental health, social science and legal communities often use different concepts, language and analytic frameworks, and have different research and intervention priorities. As a result, the knowledge, methodologies and insights of each discipline are often not readily accessible to scholars and practitioners in other fields. The goal of the conference was to start a dialogue among researchers and practitioners in diverse disciplines that can lead to improved practical interventions in divided societies and an enhanced research agenda on transitional justice issues.

In his welcoming marks, USIP President Richard Solomon observed that "dealing with wounded societies is a difficult task...[but] if there is no political support, the peace will not stick." He continued to explain that work in this area requires good interdisciplinary coordination.

The conference began with the North American premiere of the documentary film In Rwanda we say...The family that does not speak dies. The film is the second documentary about Rwanda directed by Anne Aghion. The film explored the reaction of a small community in Rwanda to the traditional legal process of gacaca and the struggles for reconciliation and justice ten years after the brutal genocide that claimed the lives nearly 800,000 Rwandans. Aghion attended the screening and answered questions about the film.

The following two days were dedicated to panel discussions on specific methodologies currently in use to assess trauma and transitional justice issues in divided societies. Panelists from a variety of countries and professional backgrounds focused on societies that have (1) experienced political transitions following severe repression, communal violence and widespread human rights violations along ideological, ethnic and/or historical lines; and (2) relied on different transitional justice mechanisms and processes to seek justice and foster reconciliation.

The conference included an extended discussion about the practical needs for justice and healing in one of the most recent countries facing transitional justice policy options, Iraq. Tariq Ali Saleh of the Iraqi Jurists Association, Hassan Mneimeh of the Iraq Research and Documentation Project at Harvard University, and Eric Davis at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Rutgers University, as well as USIP Rule of Law experts focusing on Iraq attended the conference and discussed possible options for civil society and donor nations for promoting justice and reconciliation in post-war Iraq.

While there was some debate about specific terminology and the ethical dimensions of trauma interventions and transitional justice policies, there was strong consensus that each divided society has a unique cultural context and specific circumstances that make a "one size fits all" approach to transitional justice inappropriate.

The conference was the first step in increasing communication and interaction among the societal trauma, legal, and social science fields. Future steps include the publication of a USIP monograph on the topics and small group meetings among researchers and practitioners. To read more about the SHRP work on transitional justice, please visit our website at: http://shr.aaas.org/transitionaljustice/