Trapped between Promise and Reality in Colombia's Victims' Law: Reflections on Reparations,Development and Social Justice

Colombia's 2011 Victims' Law aims to return land to millions of internally displaced people and assist survivors in the difficult process of rebuilding their lives through individual and collective reparations. This article analyses the expectations, experiences and needs of two campesino communities involved in this process. Drawing on nine months of fieldwork using ethnographic and participatory visual methods, the article critically engages with transitional justice theory on transformative reparations, and identifies key lessons for the Colombian government to make the Victims' Law live up to its promise of transforming survivors' lives and restoring their trust in the state.     

Focal Points and Turning Points in Negotiation: A Comparative Analysis

In this article, we examine the roles of focal points and turning points in negotiation. Both concern impasses in negotiation, and negotiators can exploit them to move past impasses. Each term uses the word “point” differently, however. A focal point refers to a single salient coordinating concept shared by the parties. A turning point is a departure that takes place during the course of a negotiation, when the course seems to change. Precipitants precede turning points and consequences follow them. In this article, we focus on the relationship of these two negotiation concepts. We raise the following questions: Does the development of focal points precipitate departures, and, if so, how? Do departures lead to the development of focal points, and, if so, how? Are there circumstances in which focal points do not precipitate turning points and vice versa? Do negotiations that feature focal points create more or less durable agreements? Do negotiations that include turning points create more or less durable agreements? To help answer these questions, we have analyzed four cases. In the German Foundation Agreement negotiation, the development of focal points precipitated turning points. In the South African Interim Constitution negotiations, turning point departures precipitated the development of focal points. And in the negotiations to end the Burundi civil war and to reach the Nouméa Accord between France and New Caledonia, parties shared focal points that did not precipitate turning points. These case analyses provide insights into the role of focal points in producing effective and durable agreements. They also suggest opportunities for further research on the interaction between these concepts.     

Combating racism and the issue of reparations

ABSTRACT

This paper looks at previous Pan-Africanist attempts to combat the legacy of slavery and colonialism, and concludes that one of the lessons that can be learned from the Africanists of the 20th century is the necessity for unity, internationalism and placing working people at the centre. In terms of the need for the kind of repair that is now required, the paper highlights the continuing impact of Eurocentrism and racism in all its forms. In particular it stresses that the countries of Africa and the Caribbean must reject the so-called ‘universal values of the major powers’ and develop their own political institutions and paths of development, based on their own traditions. There is still the need to reclaim the history and heritage of those who are of African and Caribbean descent, but most importantly to reclaim the sovereignty of the peoples of Africa and the Caribbean. This requires that the people empower themselves, and that they become the decision makers.     

The “Waiver of Right” Issue in Chinese Civil Claims for War Reparations from Japan—Review of the Two Judgments of the Supreme Court of Japan on April 27, 2007 —Review of the Two Judgments of the Supreme Court of Japan on April 27, 2007

It is still a hot debate: Does China still have the rights to civil claims for war reparations from Japan in spite of its signature of the Sino-Japanese Joint Communiqué of 1972? The Supreme Court of Japan has recently made a number of relevant judgments on this issue, which have cited several specific reasons and have touched on the principles of customary international law and the officially disclosed negotiation documents on the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic ties. This paper is a response to the reasons cited by the Supreme Court of Japan, which analyses the controlling doctrines and issues involved in this debate, including the Framework of Peace Treaty of San Francisco with Japan, the legal effect of the Sino-Japanese Joint Communiqué and its relationship with the Peace Treaty between Japan and Taiwan (China). Through this analysis, this paper reaches the conclusion that the Sino-Japanese Joint Communiqué does not waive the civil claims of China for war reparation.     

Applying the security-development nexus on the ground: land restitution in Colombia

The general consensus on the security-development nexus is that both are key to achieving sustainable peace in war-torn societies. However, this debate has largely taken place among international actors, with little empirical evidence about how security and development relate to each other or are even considered by local actors. The current paper applies the security-development nexus to the case of land restitution in Colombia. Following decades of internal armed conflict, in 2012 the national government passed sweeping land restitution legislation amid ongoing violence. Through in-depth interviews and focus groups with multiple actors involved in this process, ranging from international organisations to national government units, from regional institutions to local communities, the paper analyses the objectives, impact, challenges and opportunities for land restitution related to security and development. Undermining peace-building, a lack of coherence in the integration of security and development priorities limits the extent to which either supports, or is promoted by, land restitution efforts in Colombia. The paper concludes with reflections on how the security-development nexus may promote peace-building amid ongoing conflict.     

抗日战争时期日本强掳劳工民间诉讼的困境与突破

2007年4月27日,日本最高法院做出＂根据中日联合声明中国国民的请求权已经被放弃＂的判决,使得二战受难者在日民间战争赔偿诉讼陷入僵局。此种境遇下＂和解＂成为战后遗留问题工作者寻求突破的无奈选择。安野和解正是在此背景下达成。虽然和解取得了如企业承认强掳劳工的历史事实、表示谢罪、经济赔偿等一些成果,但受日本政府态度的影响,和解只能存在于受难者与企业间,就必然使得和解带有不彻底性,这也恰恰成为和解饱受争议的根源。彻底解决这一问题的方法在于以诉讼推动战争赔偿立法,以实现日本政府与企业两个层面上承认强掳华工法律责任基础上的全面解决,诉讼的根本目标及意义也在于此。     

The persistence of collective guilt

Abstract

This paper asks why, despite the obvious difficulties entailed, the notion of ‘collective guilt’ continues to feature in discussions of the responsibilities of one group towards another. The aim is to clarify how it is that the partial success of repeated attempts to distinguish individual from collective guilt and to confine the latter to a pre-modern moment reveals something of our present. The key contributions to this discussion made by Hannah Arendt and Karl Jaspers in relation to Nazi Germany are examined for their ambivalences in this regard, as are some recent developments in international law and politics. The suspicion is that collective guilt is a notion that modern political reason cannot embrace and yet which it cannot entirely disavow: ‘collective guilt’ and the element of fate that it implies is central to our understanding of citizenship, nationhood and political commitment. The paper thus attempts an analysis of the durability of the concept of collective guilt; it is not an evaluation of its usefulness, but an exploration of its persistence.     

Between transitional justice and politics: Reparations in South Africa

ABSTRACT

Reparations are a major component of transitional justice in the aftermath of widespread abuse. However, the implementation of reparations programmes often follows the logic of transitional politics, where short-term political interests trump victims’ rights. Using the South African case as a cautionary tale, this article shows that reparations are susceptible to political instrumentalisation and evaluates the role of international redress norms in safeguarding victims’ rights. Civil society groups have used the right to reparations as a basis for political contestation of inadequate reparations programmes and focused primarily on the broadening of redress norms. However, the existing international legislation fails to protect victims’ rights to reparations from political manoeuvring. In conclusion, the article highlights the need for international redress norms to be consolidated and made more concrete in order to more effectively circumscribe the scope states have to avoid meeting their reparations obligations.     

论行政事实行为

行政事实行为是指行政机关在管理中作出的与相对人实体权利义务无关的不产生法律效果的或只涉及相对人程序方面权利义务的行为。文章认为应对行政事实行为加以规范,使其能够在执行、救济、赔偿这一系列环节中都有理论可循。在行政事实行为中,对造成侵害的行政事实行为如何提起诉讼问题、对行政事实行为造成侵害的救济问题、行政事实的监督等问题值得深入研究,只有解决了理论方面的问题,才能在实践中建立相应的机制。     

Investing in peace: foreign direct investment as economic restoration in Sierra Leone?

In peace-building and transitional justice literature economic restoration is considered central to sustainable peace in post-conflict societies. However, it is also widely recognised that many post-conflict states cannot afford mechanisms to provide restoration. Not only are many such states poor to begin with, but violent conflict further degrades their economic capacity. As a result, in their need to provide jobs, generate tax revenues, spur development and promote sustainable peace, many post-conflict states turn to alternative processes of economic restoration. This paper examines the potential for foreign direct investment (FDI) to serve as one alternative means by which to provide economic restoration in post-conflict states. Presenting findings from six months of fieldwork evaluating one such project in rural Sierra Leone, the paper describes how local people experience such projects and explores whether employment and land-lease payments can provide experiences of economic restoration so far unforthcoming from the state.