Write On! Transitional justice amid conflict

(Write On! is an occasional item about notable calls for papers)

Paper proposals are being sought for The Potential Role of Transitional Justice in Active Conflicts: An International Conference to be held from November 13 to 15, 2011, in Jerusalem. The conference will launch a series of conferences in the Minerva Center for Human Rights at Hebrew University will employ a broad, interdisciplinary approach and use the comparative experience of other societies and international experts to explore transitional justice.
This 1st conference will examine the potential impact of transitional justice mechanisms while conflicts are still ongoing. Chairing the planning committee is Dr. Tomer Broude of Hebrew University; other planners include IntLawGrrl guest/alumna Fionnuala Ní Aoláin and Professor Ruti Teitel of New York Law School. Questions that may be addressed at the conference include (full list is in the call for papers):
► Are there conditions in which mechanisms of transitional justice can make a positive contribution to the cessation of violence and human rights infringements?
► Can state-led transitional justice mechanisms be formed during ongoing conflict, or will lack of political will, economic conditions, and the need to prioritize other objectives such as security, make any efforts in this direction ineffective?
► What lessons can be learned from cases in which transitional justice was pursued while the guns were not yet silent, such as in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, or in the International Criminal Court's intervention in the situation in Darfur?
► Are certain transitional justice mechanisms more suitable for application to ongoing conflicts?
► What about informal, as opposed to state-led, processes?
► Specifically in our local context, can transitional justice mechanisms assist in reaching greater reconciliation and coexistence between Israeli Jews and Arabs? Authors of selected proposals will be offered full or partial flight and accommodation expenses. It's anticipated that the conference will result in the publication of a dedicated volume or journal issue.
Deadline is May 1, 2011, for submission of 2-page proposals, plus CV, via e-mail to mchr@savion.huji.ac.il. Details here.

Scholars state detention changes

Seems everyone has notions these days about how to close the detention camp for terrorist suspects that the Bush Administration opened on January 11, 2002. Some are included in a report by a coalition of more than 20 organizations, entitled Liberty and Security: Recommendations for the Next Administration and Congress. IntLawGrrls’ own Fiona de Londras, in an excellent post, recently offered hers. I’ve my own, too, and will post them in due course. They begin with a pre-eminent concern, on which I posted more than a year ago. In closing Guantánamo as he has promised to do, the new President also must close “Guantánamo” – the abusive policies of detention, interrogation, and rendition now given that metaphoric label even if in point of fact they occur far away from the 45 square miles that comprise the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay. (12/08 photo of Camp Justice, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, by Diane Marie Amann)
Today’s post is intended to point readers to the Scholars’ Statement of Principles for the New President on U.S. Detention Policy: An Agenda for Change. Drafted by our colleague Catherine Powell, also author of a human rights Blueprint on which we’ve posted, and signed by more than 2 dozen other scholars, among them yours truly, IntLawGrrl Jenny Martinez, and our colleagues Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Sarah H. Cleveland, Deborah Pearlstein, Hope Metcalf, Martha Minow, Judith Resnik, Margaret L. Satterthwaite, and Ruti Teitel. The Statement begins with an explication of how “the existing detention system,” -- “viewed as unprincipled, unreliable, and illegitimate” -- “undermines our national security.” It then sets forth 4 principles on which any new policy ought to be based:
► Observe the rule of law
► Liberty is the norm
► Individualized process
► Transparency
Then follows a host of recommendations for the new administration. As one would expect, it calls on the President to “Close Guantánamo” – to close it in the broader sense. Detainees who can be released are to be released; those should be prosecuted are to be transferred to the United States for prosecution before “established U.S. courts,” and not the military commissions. The Statement urges the Administration to attend to U.S. detention at other sites, “primarily in Iraq and Afghanistan.” It calls for an end to extraordinary rendition, and it admits no tolerance for abuse during detention or interrogation.
In short, the Statement's a document essential to thorough consideration of what to do to undo post-9/11 detention policies.