This course is titled Transitional Justice . Limited seating might be available to Non-MPPGA students. Please contact the MPPGA program (mppga.program@ubc.ca).
Transitional justice is a response to systematic and large-scale human rights abuses. Mechanisms and processes are designed to recognize and redress harms and to rewrite the social contract. Such mechanisms may include trials, reparations, truth commissions and inquiries, memorials and museums, and community-led processes. In this course, we begin with an overview of transitional justice as a field of practice and debates within it. What is violence? When is it? What is it to give testimony and to witness violence? What is truth? What is justice and who defines this? Who is a victim and what is the political economy of victimhood? Who is to be held accountable and for what? What is the scope of transitional justice mechanisms? Which mechanisms work and for whom? We examine these questions through case studies such as: The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court; locally-led truth and justice processes; and, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.