"Transitional Justice and Civil Society: Learning from International Experience" is the title of the 3rd Annual Minerva Jerusalem Conference on Transitional Justice, organized by the Minerva Center for Human Rights and Faculty of Law of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The conferance will take place in Jerusalem on May 25-26, 2014.
INTRODUCTION: The Transitional Justice Program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Minerva Center for Human Rights and Faculty of Law is organizing an international conference that seeks to explore the role of civil society in developing and implementing transitional justice processes, particularly in the context of ongoing conflicts. The conference, the third in the series of Annual Minerva Jerusalem Conferences on Transitional Justice, is scheduled for 25-26 May 2014, in Jerusalem.
Recipients of this call for papers are invited to submit proposals to present a paper at the conference. Authors of selected proposals will be offered full or partial flight and accommodation expenses.
Submission deadline: 31 December 2013
BACKGROUND: Civil society has a vital, though often under-acknowledged, role in developing transitional justice mechanisms, institutions and concepts. Over the past three decades civil society organizations have set the agenda for transitional justice policies, promoted, supported and developed mechanisms and interventions, acted as advocates and critics of local and international institutions, and helped in developing the theoretical, legal and conceptual framework of transitional justice. From local grassroots organizations like the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina to international networks like the Coalition for the ICC, civil society organizations have been central in struggles for justice, truth and accountability across various contexts, while other civil society groups have been key actors in efforts of reconciliation, inter-community dialogue and conflict-transformation.
Indeed it is impossible to envisage the contemporary landscape of transitional justice without the role of civil society actors. At the same time there has not been sufficient academic reflection on the contribution of civil society to transitional justice, and dialogues between academia and civil society are not common enough.
The Transitional Justice Program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Minerva Center for Human Rights and Faculty of Law will hold a 2-daynternational conference on 25-26 May 2014 to explore comparative and theoretical lessons and insights drawn from the experience of civil society actors. The conference will discuss the various goals and methods of civil society actors struggling for transitional justice; their interactions with formal transitional justice mechanisms; their impact, successes and failures; and the practical and ideological dilemmas and challenges they face. One of the conference's main goals is to facilitate local learning and discussion in relation to civil society and transitional justice in the Israeli-Palestinian context. The conference therefore seeks to examine in particular the roles that civil society has fulfilled and can fulfill in ongoing conflicts, and possible implementations in the Israeli-Palestinian context of theoretical, historical, and comparative insights about the role of civil society in developing transitional justice mechanisms, institutions and concepts.
TOPICS: Conference topics may include:
- unofficial civil society truth commissions and documentation projects
- the role of civil society in promoting inter-community dialogues and reconciliation
- civil society as litigation actors
- civil society and the work of international criminal tribunals
- civil society and the design, implementation and follow-up of official TJ mechanisms
- the impact of civil society and peace negotiations
- civil society and education reform
- civil society and reparations
- civil society, commemoration and memorialisation
- civil society in ongoing conflicts
- evaluation of existing initiatives in the Israeli-Palestinian context
PAPER SUBMISSION PROCEDURE: Researchers interested in addressing questions related to these or related topics are invited to respond to this call for papers with a one- or two-page proposal for an article and presentation, along with a one-page CV. Proposals should be submitted to the Minerva Center for Human Rights via e-mail: mchr@savion.huji.ac.il no later than 31 December 2013.
Applicants should receive notification of the committee's decision by the end of January 2014. Short drafts of 7,000-10,000 words based on the selected proposals will be expected by 1 May 2014.
The Israel Law Review (a Cambridge University Press publication) has expressed interest in publishing selected full-length papers based on conference presentations, subject to its standard review and editing procedures.
CONFERENCE COMMITTEE:
Prof. Barak Medina, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Chair)
Prof. Tomer Broude, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Dr. Ron Dudai, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Adv. Danny Evron, Minerva Center for Human Rights, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Adv. Hassan Jabareen, Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel
Prof. Fionnuala Ni Aolain, University of Minnesota; University of Ulster
Prof. Ruti Teitel, New York Law School
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