Where Law Meets Reality

Exploring the dilemmas and complexities involved in addressing past human rights violations from an African perspective, this unique book argues for a more peaceful future. It challenges current transitional justice narratives—which have inadequately addressed the concerns of postconflict societies in Africa—and emphasizes the need to avoid representing African issues as “exotic” and “exceptional.” Unique and comprehensive, this book not only considers the core debates about how to develop a transitional justice agenda, but also assesses the potential of localized justice models to contribute to justice systems.

Moses Chrispus Okello is a Ugandan national, a senior research advisor at the Refugee Law Project, and a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Transitional Justice. Chris Dolan is the director of the Refugee Law Project, a community outreach project of the law faculty at Makerere University, and the author of Social Torture: The Case of Northern Uganda 1986–2006. Undine Whande is a social anthropologist who has worked as a practitioner in conflict transformation and social change for the past 14 years as well as a specialist in organizational learning at the Center for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation. Nokukhanya Mncwabe is the African Transitional Justice Research Network's regional coordinator for southern Africa and a lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. Her publications include an article in the International Journal of Transitional Justice entitled “African Transitional Justice Research Network: Critical Reflections on a Peer Learning Process.” Stephen Oola is a Ugandan national, an Advocate of the High Court of Uganda, and the head of research and advocacy at the Refugee Law Project. He also coordinates the Advisory Consortium on Conflict Sensitivity.