"Living with a Legacy of Genocide: Dealing with the Past in Affected Communities in Guatemala and Bosnia and Herzegovina"
Background
Dealing with the past is the focus of one of the thematic programs at the Center for Peacebuilding (KOFF) – Swisspeace. In 2006, KOFF organized a series of roundtable events to examine the process of dealing with the past in Guatemala and Bosnia and Herzegovina ten years after the peace accords ended the conflicts in those two countries. This comparative analysis culminated in the Swisspeace annual conference and the publication of the Swisspeace conference paper ‘Dealing with the Past in Post-Conflict Societies: Guatemala and Bosnia and Herzegovina Ten Years after the Peace Accords’.
Dealing with a legacy of past human rights abuse is one of the most difficult tasks facing post-conflict societies. Although there is no standard model for dealing with the past, in recent years certain mechanisms have been developed in the field of transitional justice. The application of these mechanisms has been typically top-down in its approach. The question of impact arises if we consider the use of this approach that is, in a way, exclusive to the initiatives of the local communities. To what extent do the instruments of transitional justice that are being used empower affected communities? What autonomous mechanisms and strategies do affected communities develop to cope with the long-term effects of war crimes and even genocide?
In the developing field of transitional justice, it is important to take note of community-based responses for dealing with the past in order to engage more constructively in a long term process of reconciliation. Of particular interest is the fact that different approaches to transitional justice have been taken in Guatemala and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Guatemala, with the truth commissions, the emphasis has been on truth-seeking and the establishment of facts, while in BiH the criminal justice approach i.e. trials approach has prevailed with the ICTY in The Hague and domestic war crimes trials. The project will compare the impact that these two different approaches may have had upon affected communities.
Scope of work
The research that the RDC is conducting will involve field work in two selected communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina: in Prijedor and Srebrenica. The field research will include interviews with different stakeholders (local government officials – including judiciary, police, and military where appropriate, health and social workers, representatives of local NGOs and religious institutions etc.) as well as with victims and associations representing victims (e.g. missing persons, trauma victims, refugees, IDPs and ex-combatants).
The field work in the selected communities should be analyzed in connection to the process of dealing with the past on the national level in order to provide a context for the community-based strategies identified.
The research should also provide some form of visual documentation of elements of the process of dealing with the past in selected communities. This could be by photographs or by video (i.e. documentary material) that will be used in addition to the final report that is to be produced by the end of the project.
Objectives
Based on the project description, the following objectives can be identified:
- To examine the impact of transitional justice mechanisms (e.g. truth commissions in the case of Guatemala, international and domestic war crimes trials in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina) on communities affected by genocide or mass violence;
- To investigate the extent to which such instruments empower affected communities and influence and/or legitimize their approach to dealing the past;
- To identify and describe any autonomous mechanisms and strategies which affected communities develop to cope with the long-term effects of war crimes and genocide;
- To formulate needs in affected communities with respect to further measures for dealing with the past and to make recommendations, as appropriate, in this regard;
- To provide visual documentation of the process of dealing with the past in the communities identified for the project;
- To produce a final report, which will be accompanied with the visual documentation that will be published by Swisspeac
Time allotment
The duration for the realization of the research and the production of the report is from November 1st 2007 to April 1st 2008.
Time-line
Interviews will be conducted from January to March 2008, after the preparations are completed, in December 2007.
Video and photographic documentation will be produced in the same time-frame.
The report drafting will be completed during March 2008.
Language
The report on community-based responses in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be produced in English.
Locations
1. Prijedor, Republika Srpska (BiH)
2. Srebrenica, Republika Srpska (BiH)
Methodology
Interviews with different stakeholders:
- Local government officials (judiciary, police, military personnel, health and social workers)
- NGO activists
- Scholars researching the topic of dealing with the past
- Representatives of religious communities
- Survivors; families of the victims; associations of victims (missing persons, refugees, IDPs, people suffering from PTSD, ex-combatants)
- Staff of inter-governmental organizations working in BiH and dealing with the process of facing the past (UNDP; OSCE)
Outcome
A final report will be published by KOFF based on reports concerning the research conducted in Guatemala and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The research reports will focus on the process of dealing with the past in the communities identified in the two countries. Visual documentation will be an integral part of each of the reports.
Implementation of the project/research
The first phase includes the background research and making the necessary contacts needed for conducting the interviews.
The second phase includes traveling to the locations in question (Srebrenica and Prijedor) and completing the interviews, as well as visits to locations that need to be photographed for the final report.
The third phase of the project will include drafting of the final report.
Outreach
All activities within the project will be regularly communicated to the public, through the web site of the organization www.idc.org.ba. When needed, additional outreach activities can be implemented such as press conferences and regular contacts with the media.
Within the implementation of the project, the RDC staff members will communicate with representatives of different NGOs, governmental institutions, religious communities as well as all citizens interested in the issues we are researching. This way we will intensify the contacts with other actors that are, directly or indirectly, working on the issues of dealing with the past in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
For further information, please contact:
Iva Vukusic
Project manager
vukusic@idc.org.ba
