Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper seeks to explore the role of culture in determining the methods and mechanisms used in transitional justice. With the rise in use of international and hybrid courts as well as support for truth commissions comes the question of whether these mechanisms serve the interests of the people in whose name they act or if they instead serve the interests of the international community and operate via Western norms instead of the cultural norms of the societies that are in transition. The analysis will be via cases illustrating different levels of internal and external involvement in the creation and operation of transitional justice mechanisms such as the Sierra Leonean Special Court, the ICTR, Rwanda’s Gacaca courts and East Timor’s Truth Commission and Adat courts.