Abstracts Category : Other

Harmonizing customary justice with the rule of law? A sub-national case study of liberal peacebuilding in Sierra Leone and Liberia

by Mohamed Sesay

One of the greatest conundrums facing postwar reconstruction in non-Western countries is the resilience of customary justice systems whose procedural and substantive norms are often inconsistent with international standards. Also, there are concerns that subjecting customary systems to formal regulation may undermine vital conflict resolution mechanisms in these war-torn societies. However, this case study of peacebuilding in Sierra Leone and Liberia finds that primary justice systems interact in complex ways that are both mutually reinforcing and undermining, depending on the particular configuration of institutions, norms, and power in the local sub-national context. In any scenario of formal and informal justice interaction (be it conflictual or cooperative), it matters whether the state justice system is able to deliver accessible, affordable, and credible justice to local populations and whether justice norms are in line with people's conflict resolution needs, priorities, and expectations. Yet, such interaction between justice institutions and norms is mediated by underlying power dynamics relating to local political authority and access to local resources. These findings were drawn from a six-month fieldwork that included collection of documentary evidence, observation of customary courts, and in-depth interviews with a wide range of stakeholders such as judicial officials, paralegals, traditional authorities, as well as local residents who seek justice in multiple forums. Comparative analysis was largely sub-national in order to capture multiple layers of complexity in the traditional authority structure as well as important regional variation in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Une des plus grandes nigmes lies aux travaux de reconstruction la suite d'hostilits dans les pays non occidentaux est la rsilience des systmes de droit coutumier dont les normes procdurales et substantives sont souvent incompatibles avec les normes internationales. Il y a galement des proccupations selon lesquelles la soumission des systmes coutumiers aux rglements formels puisse miner les mcanismes vitaux de rsolution des conflits dans ces socits ravages par la guerre.Cependant, cette tude de cas de consolidation de la paix en Sierra Leone et au Libria montre que des systmes de justice traditionnels interagissent de faons complexes : ils soutiennent le processus d'une part et l'affaiblissent galement, selon la configuration particulire des institutions, des normes, et des pouvoirs propres au contexte infranational local. Dans toute situation d'interaction entre la justice formelle et informelle (qu'il y ait conflit ou coopration), il importe que le systme juridique d'tat puisse offrir aux populations locales, des services juridiques accessibles, abordables et crdibles et que les normes de justice soient conformes leurs besoins, leurs priorits et leurs attentes, en matire de rsolution de conflits. Et pourtant, de telles interactions entre les institutions de justice et les normes sont soumises laAdvisors/Committee Members: Rex J Brynen (Supervisor1).