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Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
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e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 08
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Emerging Conflict Trends and the Potential for Transitional
Justice in Nigeria: A Case Study of Boko Haram
Ibrahim Shehu ; Rabiatu Abdullahi Musa
Faculty of Law Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto.
&
Faculty of Law, University Of Jos
INTRODUCTION
The paper focuses and examines the
emerging conflict trends and the potential
for transitional justice in Nigeria under the
related laws looking through the issue of
Boko Haram in Nigeria.
In the past two decades, scholars and
practitioners have focused increasing
attention on the question of how countries
and societies can come to terms with a
history of violence and war, oppression and
human rights violations. The concept of
transitional justice (TJ) has come to play a
prominent role in academic debates on
democratization, nation-building and state
reconstruction, and has gained widespread
support from international organizations.1
The issue of Boko Haram conflict in Nigeria
most especially in the Northern Nigeria has
been mostly viewed in social, economic and
religious terms whereby the concept of
transitional justice had offered important
1 The United States Institute of Peace (Kritz 1995, 2009),
the International Center for Transitional Justice, the South
African Centre for the Study of Violence and
Reconciliation, Swisspeace and the Center for Justice and
Reconciliation in The Hague have conducted research and
extensively published on TJ issues. The International Peace
Research Institute in Oslo and the University of Wisconsin- Madison has set up TJ databases.
insights. Transitional justice as seen to be
the set of practices, mechanisms and
concerns that arise following a period of
conflict, civil strife or repression, and that
are aimed directly at confronting and dealing
with past violations of human rights and
humanitarian law.2 Thus, there is several
transitional justice mechanisms available to
deal with all sought of conflict that could
arise within a particular country but the
failure to implement a proper transitional
justice mechanism could lead to impunity.
Impunity has become a norm in Nigeria,
leading to excessive forms of violent,
conflict and crimes. The hallmark of this is
defined by the elite use of power in a
dishonest or illegal way largely to take
advantage among other competing interests.
The significant character of Nigeria’s
culture of impunity is inequality before the
law and lack of accountability. Therefore,
this paper shall examine the concept of
transitional justice, the mechanisms
involved and the role of the transitional
justice in dealing with conflict by resolving
it most especially the conflict established by
2 De Greiff, P and Duthie, R.; Transitional Justice and
Development: Making Connections, Social Science
Research Council, (2009), p. 177.
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Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
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e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 08
September 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 295
the group of Boko Haram members in
Nigeria.
MEANING OF TRANSITIONAL
JUSTICE
The term ‘Transitional Justice’ is often
used to describe the political choices made
by States that are undergoing governance
transition, which they adopt in order to deal
with human rights violations and/or past
abuses and atrocities committed by former
governments and non-state actors. In
addition to being, a response to widespread
or systemic violations of the past, it also
seeks recognition for victims and to promote
possibilities for peace, reconciliation and
democracy and the rule of law usually in a
post-conflict environment.3 The United
Nation (UN) also opined on the same notion
that transitional justice refers to “the full set
of processes and mechanisms associated
with a society’s attempts to come to terms
with a legacy of large-scale past abuse, in
order to secure accountability, serve justice
and achieve reconciliation”.4
Transitional justice is also said to be the
set of practices, mechanisms and concerns
that arise following a period of conflict, civil
strife or repression, and that are aimed
directly at confronting and dealing with past
violations of human rights and humanitarian
law.5 According to this concept, transitions
3 See definition by International Centre for Transitional
Justice, <http://www.ictj.org/en/tj>. Accessed 15/08/2014.
4 Annan, K; The Rule of Law in Conflict and Post-Conflict
Societies, (2004) NY: United Nations.
5 Roht-Arriaza, N. and Mariezcurrna, J., Transitional
Justice in the Twenty-First Century: Beyond Truth Versus
Justice, (2006) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
can only take place when conflict or
repression has ended and should include all
human rights, not only civil and political
rights. More so, transitional justice as a
“field” constituted by “an international web
of individuals and institutions, whose
internal coherence is held together by
common concepts, practical aims, and
distinctive claims for legitimacy”,6 most of
which are articulated as a result of the need
to resist and respond to mass atrocities in
contexts of significant political change.
Thus, they all highlight the fact that
transitional justice implies a particular set of
approaches to deal with the legacy of gross
human rights violations and international
crimes. Some of these approaches are driven
by the international law paradigm, meaning
international human rights law, international
humanitarian law, international criminal
law, and international refugee law, which
becomes “the normative foundation” of
transitional justice.7
From the foregoing definitions,
transitional justice could be generally
understood as an approach to systematic or
massive violations of human rights that both
provides redress to victims and creates or
enhances opportunities for the
transformation of the political systems,
conflicts, and other conditions that may have
been at the root of the abuses. Thus, it
6 Arthur, P. How Transitions Reshaped Human
Rights: A Conceptual History of Transitional Justice,
(2009), Human Rights Quarterly, p. 324.
7 Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights,
Analytical Study on Human Rights and Transitional
Justice, A/HRC/12/18, Geneva: United Nations.
(2009).
Page 3 of 13
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 08
September 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 296
should be observed that transitional justice is
not a special form of justice rather, justice
adapted to the often unique conditions of
societies undergoing transformation away
from a time when human rights abuse may
have been a normal state of affairs.
HISTORY OF TRANSITIONAL
JUSTICE
Transitional justice as a field emerged
in the late 1980s and early 1990s, mainly in
response to the political transitions that took
place in Latin America and Eastern
Europe—and the claims for justice advanced
during those transitions.8 At this time,
human rights activists and others were
concerned with the question of how to
address effectively the systematic abuses of
former regimes but still reinforce and not
derail the political transformations that were
underway. Since these changes were
popularly called “transitions to
democracy,”9
people started calling this new
multi-disciplinary field “transitional justice”
or “justice in times of transition.”
Transitional justice measures that were
adopted included prosecutions, usually of
regime leaders; truth-telling initiatives, such
as opening up state archives and establishing
official truth commissions; the creation of
reparations programs for victims; and the
vetting of public employees, especially
members of the security forces.10
8 De Greiff, P. and Duthie, R., (2009), Op cit, p. 180.
9 Kritz, N., Transitional Justice: How Emerging
Democracies Reckon with Former Regimes,
Washington DC: United States Institute for Peace
Press. (1995), p. 25.
10 Ibid, p. 26-27.
Transitional justice emerged as part
of recognition that is dealing with systematic
or massive abuses require a distinctive
approach that is both backward- and
forward-looking: transitional justice
measures aim not only to dignify victims,
but also to help prevent similar victimhood
in the future. The long-term goals of
transitional justice measures are to promote
peace, democracy, and reconciliation, with
the idea that these conditions help to prevent
the systematic or massive violation of
human rights.11
Transitional Justice Today
Transitional justice today is a diverse and
vibrant field. As it has grown, it has found
common ground with social justice
movements, as well as the fields of conflict
resolution, peace building, and historical
memory, to name a few. 12
As transitional contexts have shifted
from the post-authoritarian societies of
Argentina and Chile to the post-conflict
societies of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Liberia, and the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, new practical challenges have forced
the field to innovate and expand its
boundaries. Ethnic cleansing and
displacement, the reintegration of ex- combatants, reconciliation among
communities, and the role of justice in peace
11 Ibid, p. 29.
12 Ki-Moon, B., UN Secretary-General., Report of the
Secretary General on Peacebuilding in the
Immediate Aftermath of Conflict, A/63/881-
S/2009/304, NY: United Nations. (2009), p. 4.
