Elective course

The course deals with transitional justice mechanisms, frequently used in countries emerging from armed conflict or from periods of authoritarian regime to provide accountability for gross human rights violations. First, the course examines the different transitional justice interventions, including truth commissions, trials, amnesties, reparations and guarantees of non-repetition. Second, specific attention is given to considering ongoing debates within the field of transitional justice that have attracted increasing attention from policymakers and scholars in the last two decades.

NGOs, International Institutions, International Center of Transitional Justice, Human Rights institutions.

1. Conceptualizing transitional justice

2. Truth Commissions

3. Prosecutions and amnesties

4. Reparations/compensation

5. Non-repetition guarantees

6. Judicial Process in Transitional Justice

7. The future of transitional justice: current human rights violations

The course deals with theory and practice. We will study each concept through readings and academic debates. Case studies will be selected to underline key issues of transitional justice theory and practice according with the questions considered during the course.

CB3, CB5, CG1, CG4

CE4, CE13

• Barahona De Brito, Alexandra, Carmen Gonzaléz-Enríquez, and Paloma Aguilar (eds). The Politics of Memory: Transitional Justice in Democratizing Societies, Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2001.
• Martínez Barahona, Elena and Martha Liliana Gutierrez Salazar. Transitional Justice and the Politics of Prosecuting Gross Human Rights Violations in Latin America. Handbook of Law and Society in Latin America. Rachel Sieder, Karina Ansolabehere, Tatiana A. Alfonso Sierra (eds). Routledge. 2019.
• Olsen, Tricia D., Leigh A. Peine y Andrew G. Reiter. Transitional Justice in Balance. Comparing processes, weighing efficacy. Washington: United States Institute of Peace Press. 2010.  
• Roht-Arriaza, Naomi and Javier Mariezcurrena, eds. Transitional Justice in the Twenty-First Century: Beyond Truth Versus Justice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2006.
• Sikkink, Kathryn. The justice cascade: How human rights prosecutions are changing world politics, New York: Norton. 2011.
• Skaar, Elin; Jemina García-Godos y Cath Collins. Transitional Justice in Latin America. The uneven road from impunity towards accountability. New York: Routledge. 2016.
• Teitel. Ruti G. Transitional Justice. New York : Oxford University Press. 2000. The Handbook of Reparations, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Reading material (list available in Studium.)

 All students are expected to keep up with the required readings and to attend classes

All late assignments will not be evaluated

Practical exercises and quizzes (60% of the final grade): will evaluate your analytical and practical skills along the course.

Final Exam (40% of the final grade): multiple-choice exam will include theoretical and practical questions. It is necessary to obtain 20% so this test can contribute to the final grade. In case of not reaching this minimum, you will have to repeat the exam in the second call, regardless of the score obtained in the other assignments.

Attend classes. Do the readings. Do the exercises and other assignments on time. All late assignments will not be evaluated. If you do not upload your exercises, quizzes and research report before the due date you will not have another opportunity.

Academic dishonesty will not be allowed.

You will have two opportunities to take the final exam. There are no opportunities to re-do all the other course assignments. Final grade will be a weighted in the second call in the same way that the first one.