Latin America and the Indo-Pacific by Tom Page, Creative Commons
By: Amanda Peña
On the evening of Tuesday, March 7th, 2023, the Mary Hoch Center for Reconciliation hosted a virtual webinar, Learning from Latin America: Successes of Transitional Justice, featuring guest experts: Dr. Jo-Marie Burt, Associate Professor at GMU’s Schar School for Policy and Government and Senior Fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), and Eduardo Gonzalez, MHCR Research Affiliate and Think Peace Convener. This event was moderated by MHCR Communications Officer and Shinnyo Fellow, Amanda Peña.
Burt and Gonzalez are both transitional justice experts. Burt, an educator, has been in this field for decades, with her research mainly focusing on Guatemala and Peru. Gonzalez is a practitioner with expertise in Peru, Mali, and the United States. The purpose of the webinar was to learn more about transitional justice processes in Latin America, and explore if those processes could be used in the U.S. Guiding questions fell into three main themes:
1. The psychosocial aspect of transitional justice,
2. The ‘successes’ and ‘failures’ of transitional justice and what that means, and
3. How the U.S. can learn from transitional justice processes in Latin America.
According to the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), transitional justice is “a response to systematic or widespread violations of human rights. It seeks recognition for victims and promotes possibilities for peace, reconciliation, and democracy. Transitional justice is not a special form of justice but justice adapted to societies transforming themselves after a period of pervasive human rights abuse.”
Transitional justice mechanisms have been used in Latin American countries on multiple occasions to respond to state and political violence where military regimes overtook governments. So, the first question was: How has transitional justice helped Latin America heal from injustices? Burt and Gonzalez recognized transitional justice's impact on communities when used, but believed the answer to the question is not as direct as one may think. Burt said her answer to that question changes depending on the day. Using Guatemala and Peru as examples, Burt noted that transitional justice processes did allow for reparations for the Indigenous populations and those affected by colonialism in both countries. Still, these processes fall short at “the fundamental level of societal transformation.” Gonzalez recognized how intertwined transitional justice is with the legal system and questioned the idea of a legal structure having the power to heal individuals. Still, there should be an effort there–that there needs to be more ambition for healing trauma.
My next question was about the definitions of successes and failures in transitional justice, and Gonzalez provided a frank answer. He said, “There are things that you don't do because you are going to succeed, you do them because they are the right thing to do.” The integrity shown in that response can be seen between Burt and Gonzalez. Transitional justice is a process both speakers are passionate about, as they care deeply for all those who are affected by mass atrocities. Gonzalez later states that if the transitional justice system reaches and empowers individuals, that is a success, and Burt concurred with the sentiment. She then mentioned that the transitional justice process comprises specific policies and programs because the process would be implemented after a mass atrocity within a community. Sometimes, “[the process] is too far removed from the amount of pain inflicted on these communities.” Using the Peruvian dictator, Alberto Fujimori as her example, Burt spoke on how he ruled the country for 10 years and fled to Japan, where the Japanese ignored extradition, Peruvians mobilized to push for Fujimori to be extradited to Peru–and it worked after he left for Chile. That situation would not have been possible without the people coming together against a more extensive legal system not acting in their favor. Burt said, “Sometimes crazy is what gets things done.”
The last question I asked was how the two believe the U.S. could learn from the processes as mentioned above. Gonzalez mentioned his time speaking with David Ragland at the Truth Telling Project following the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. He said the space was used to share the oral history of those killed and provide mutual support to those affected by mass atrocities. The people from this community understood transitional justice, and now transitional justice initiatives are growing nationwide. More individuals are looking into reconciliation and reparations, and there has been much pushback on the change these processes may create within the country. Both Burt and Gonzalez discussed the ‘exceptionality’ the U.S. has made part of its history and culture, hence the pushback on these other systems because it infers a change needs to be made in the first place. In response, Burt asked: “Why is it so hard for us to talk about oppression and [sic] past abuses that have been committed in our name or the name of other groups?”
This event covered transitional justice – a process that allows everyone involved to share their experiences and puts survivors at the forefront. Transitional justice processes have been successful because they can address the underlying root problems of a conflict or mass atrocity for the community to heal. These systems inherently do not allow the public to forget about the violence, but rather help ensure it will not happen again. The process may be slow, but it is enriching.