Local ownership in the rule of law

Contact

Sharon Wiharta

Hansen, A., and S., Wiharta,The Transition to a Just Order: Establishing Local Ownership after Conflict, A Practitioner's Guide, FBA Handbook no. 2, (Folke Bernadotte Academy: Stockholm, 2007)

Hansen, A., and S., Wiharta, The Transition to a Just Order: Establishing Local Ownership after Conflict, A Policy Report, FBA Research Report no. 4, (Folke Bernadotte Academy: Stockholm, 2007)

The project examines both national and international efforts to promote justice and to establish the rule of law in post-conflict situations. Post-conflict justice entails a variety of components, including creating mechanisms for bringing accountability to perpetrators of atrocities crimes (genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes) and fostering reconciliation in societies recovering from conflicts, but also with the objective of preventing renewed hostilities. In that context, the project looks at the various mechanisms for delivering post-conflict justice, including the International Criminal Court, international war crime tribunals such as the ICTR and the ICTY, hybrid courts in Sierra Leone and Cambodia, and national truth and reconciliation commissions.

As a precondition to sustainable peace building and development, the rule of law has increasingly become incorporated as a central element in international approaches to crisis management and conflict resolution. Without a basic degree of order and a rule of law the legitimacy of the state cannot be established, violence does not end, social reconciliation and confidence building cannot begin and economic reconstruction and development remain impossible. The absence of a functioning rule of law is then a factor in the emergence and sustainability of conflict, as well as representing one of the main obstacles to build durable peace.

This project explores the challenges of transferring and sustaining public order and the rule of law after conflict. Particular attention will be paid to examining the principle of local ownership and how it can be implemented. It is posited that sustainable rule of law requires meaningful and effective local participation from the outset in the design and implementation of law and order reforms. The implementation of the local ownership principle, and the transference of responsibility, has proven to be one of the main challenges in post-conflict assistance to the rule of law. In this context, the project aims to address the linkage between immediate public security needs and long-term institution and capacity building and between crisis management and development actors, in accordance with the recognition that they do not act consecutively in different conflict phases but, rather, that their relationship and tasks are intertwined and require close collaboration.

Discussion along the lines of these themes draws heavily from the experiences of recent conflicts, including cases such as Kosovo and East Timor, where the international community has taken the lead in bearing responsibility for law and order, as well as Afghanistan, DRC and Sierra Leone, all illustrating scenarios where primacy has rested with local authorities. This research was conducted in partnership with the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI); and Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA).

• Return to Main Page