Reference no: EM133304934

Case: The second category of strategic peacebuilding processes includes state-based legal and judicial systems and the military, as well as civilian peacekeeping efforts and programs such as refugee camps and shelters to give people a safe place to live. These programs interrupt the cycle of violence and lay the foundation for further peacebuilding in three ways: preventing victimization, restraining offenders, and creating safe space. These strategies aim to prevent victimization, |restrain offenders, and make a safe space for other peacebuilding processes. Preventing Victimization In many civil wars, civilians are targeted as a strategy of war. Civilians massacres plant the seeds for future wars and revenge killings. In Rwanda and Burundi, the international community failed to act when warned of impending genocide. Once the killings started, the cycle of violence became a raging flood that affected every street in every village. If international peacekeepers had been there to prevent the victimization of civilians, far fewer people would have died, and far fewer people would have taken up arms to conduct revenge killings on civilians of the opposing ethnic group. The more peacebuilders can protect civilians from becoming victims, the more likely they are to prevent an expansion of war and direct violence. Restraining Offenders

People who commit crimes or attack civilians need to be stopped. The Western legal framework uses statebased law enforcement and justice processes to protect citizens from individuals who are not able or willing to follow laws. While this approach is not always successful-and indeed can be counterproductive-a system of law and order is important. As noted in Chapter 6, a variety of efforts are underway to reform and improve the methods of responding to wrongdoing.

Creating Safe Space

During war and violence, it is hard to gain perspective and make decisions objectively. People tend to go into survival mode and make reactionary decisions that may hurt their long-term interests. Fragile peace negotiations lose momentum with every suicide bombing on an Israeli bus and with every Palestinian house bulldozed to make way for Israeli settlements. Efforts to reduce violence create a space for cooling down and preparing for other approaches to peacebuilding.

A variety of programs can help to achieve the immediate goal of reducing violence, thus making space for other peacebuilding approaches. These include legal and judicial systems intended to protect order and human rights, humanitarian relief aid, ceasefire agreements, peacekeeping, peace zones, and early warning programs to detect escalating conflict.

Legal and Judicial Systems

Legal and judicial systems help to create order. When they are oriented toward justpeace, human security, and protecting human rights, they can help people to meet their own needs without interference from others. Legal and judicial systems should gain legitimacy through serving communities rather than through coercive violence. When they do not gain legitimacy in appropriate ways, however, they can contribute to the problem. Legal and judicial systems are often the enforcers of structural violence that discriminate against and harm people based on their race, religion, class, or other identity. If legal and judicial systems are based on revenge, they can fuel and even increase the cycle of violence and crime within a society.

Laws and justice systems can help maintain order, which is essential for a sustainable peace.

State-based law and justice

The state system includes law enforcement, courts and some form of sanctioning or corrections. Ideally, these systems prevent individuals from hurting themselves and others, provide an opportunity for offenders to reflect on and repent from their behaviors, and encourage offenders to develop skills and ways of dealing with conflict so that they can make better choices. Such state-based legal systems are important for order and social control. However, in societies where these systems are ineffective or unjust, and where many citizens are not able to meet their basic needs, or where primary reliance is upon a "get tough" approach, the task of maintaining order may become difficult. The only sure way to reduce crime is to increase the ability of people to meet their needs in ways that do not hurt others.

The concepts of community policing and restorative justice are growing in popularity and have a proven record of reducing crime. Community policing uses police partnerships, who consult with and are accountable to the communities they serve. Restorative justice processes, described in more detail in the next chapter, are also increasingly used to address the problem of criminal and other offending behavior in ways that promote community ownership and responsibility.

International law and justice

The founders of the United Nations responded to the horrors of World War II by establishing international laws and human rights to deter violent conflict and set standards for countries. These include international humanitarian laws establishing rules of war that seek to protect and limit harms to civilians during armed conflict.

In 2002, the United Nations established an international criminal court to hold people responsible for human rights crimes in states that are unable or unwilling to do so. Earlier, two ad-hoc criminal courts were set up to judge war crimes in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda. While their effectiveness is controversial, these courts aim to affirm human rights, restrain offenders and deter future people from participating in gross human rights violations.

Humanitarian Assistance

Humanitarian aid seeks to relieve human suffering. It is important to peacebuilding because it can interrupt the cycle of violence that leads victims to commit revenge violence. Food, shelter, and medical aid offered by local religious and non-profit organizations assist victims of violence. In addition to providing important support for people in crisis, they may also advocate for government and community responses to violence.

While international humanitarian aid is traditionally guided by principles of political neutrality and impartiality, recent research shows that that approach can exacerbate conflict if it turns a blind eye to politics. Aid is sometimes hijacked by warring sides, and profits are used to buy more weapons. Nevertheless, international humanitarian aid is important in meeting need and reducing violence. In fact, there is growing awareness that humanitarian aid processes, such as food delivering food, organizing water and health programs in refugee camps, and building new housing provide an important opportunity to collaborate across the lines of conflict.

Cease-fire Agreements

The first step in formal negotiations is to gain agreement between fighting groups to stop the violence. While cease-fire agreements do not address the roots of the conflict, they aim to create a safe space to allow further negotiations.

Groups engaged in warfare are willing to stop fighting when they experience a "hurting stalemate." This occurs when all groups are not able to gain more territory, when they are sufficiently tired of war, or when each group feels it has enough bargaining power at the negotiating table.

Without a ceasefire agreement, it is difficult if not impossible to negotiate about more difficult issues such as governance. If groups continue to fight during peace talks, people traumatized by new rounds of violence are unlikely to support the peace talks.

Question 1. What are three systems or approaches for reducing direct violence that could have reduced direct violence during Liberia's civil war and/or post-war?

Question 2. How are these three systems useful?

Question 3. Why are these three systems useful?

Question 4. Which strategy might be the most successful of the three/