Subject Area: Politics and Cultural Studies (International Development)
Supervisor: Dr Krijn Peters and Professor Roland Axtmann
Research Degree: PhD
Thesis Title: Assessing Transitional Justice Mechanisms and their potential for supporting the Relief rehabilitation and Development Continuum in Post – War Sierra Leone – A missed opportunity
Transitional societies emerging from protracted conflict face numerous challenges of how to deal with the legacy of past human rights abuses and address the root causes of conflict. A mixture of approaches have been suggested for achieving this task. These often come with high cost implications that require humanitarian and development actors to contribute to the task of addressing the root causes and legacy of the conflict.
Sierra Leone witnessed a civil conflict (1991-2002) that registered large-scale human rights abuses and other atrocities that include; amputations, massive displacement of people, breakdown of law and order and whole scale devastation of the socioeconomic and political structure of the country. The end of the conflict saw the country faced with the massive challenge of consolidating peace, stability, foster recovery and sustainable development.
Post war Sierra Leone had to design and implement various transitional justice mechanisms that include; a special tribunal, truth commission, reparations and institutional reforms as measures to promote peace, recovery and sustainable development agenda. The response to this task saw development assistance from bi-lateral and multi-lateral development actors and agencies offered to the country to support these initiatives.
This development saw the interface between transitional justice and development as a means of bridging the humanitarian, recovery and development need that requires addressing the root causes of the violent conflict and builds a stable post war environment. Post war Sierra Leone presents a practical case study in linking transitional justice mechanisms and RRD agenda to achieve a common goal. The research aim is to examine how transitional justice mechanisms implemented in post-war Sierra Leone potentially supported the realisation of the relief, recovery and sustainable development agenda.
I have written various monitoring and evaluation reports for Humanitarian and development organisations that are unpublished due to the copy right ownership.
