Friday 12th of November - Ending violent conflicts: Justice or Peace? The International Criminal Court and the controversial role of amnesties

When working to end violent conflicts, what happens when justice and peace objectives clash? The price of peace can sometimes mean granting impunity to perpetrators of atrocities. What effect does this have on the incentives of potential future perpetrators of atrocities? What is the long-term effect of not being seen to achieve justice for victims? What is the optimal trade-off between peace and justice?

Here are a few short readings.

An excellent setting out of the issues:
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=5330&l=1

The view from Uganda:
http://www.jurisafrica.org/docs/JusticeDelayedinUganda.doc

The long term costs of granting impunity in El Salvador:
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/the_americas/v059/59.1schmidt.html

Finally, the always tongue in cheek view on the Bashir indictments from the excellent blog wronging rights:
http://wrongingrights.blogspot.com/2009/03/you-can-make-me-write-bashir-arrest.html