Restorative Justice Peacebuilding: War and inter-community conflicts

A world in conflict

Peace worldwide is being disrupted with new, ongoing or escalating wars, inter-community and inter-state conflicts. As I write this page, the peaceful land of Greenland is being threatened while the war and conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, Syria, Iran, Lebanon and Afghanistan continue to claim the lives of thousands of victims, including children and women. We are also witnessing a new “trend” of international law as we see the powerful flexing their muscles, even invading sovereign territories in the name of peace and order. 

Following humanity’s shameful acts during World War I and World War II, we came together to say: “never again”. We signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and set up international (e.g. United Nations, International Criminal Court) and regional (e.g. Council of Europe, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights) bodies and mechanisms to safeguard minimum human rights for all.

Significant as they might appear, these attempts remain top-down and to some extent controlled by national interests. Even when attempts are made to stop atrocities and call out the powerful to stop forcing their political or financial agendas, the voice of these institutions is weak.

Moreover, since the tragic events of September 11^th 2001, we have witnessed a wave of legislative, institutional, and societal reforms that re-arranged how we prioritise security over civil liberties and human rights. We accepted these changes as ‘temporary’ in the need (and hope) that they will restore peace and protect us. But in essence, their premise was meant to be permanent and divisive in nature, taking us away from what is natural in ourselves. By this, I am referring to our basic human urge to co-exist through the pre-existence of a “social liaison” that binds us all.

Consequently, the ‘them and I’ narrative was developed to corrupt our natural tendency to live together, and just like any adversarial process, to create a mindset of winners and losers. This divisive narrative is also what drives debates by far-Right political groups, which also seem to be on the rise globally. A new zeitgeist is being formed where new narratives re-define how we co-exist and accept the other. These narratives are not pleasant. They are mostly divisive, encouraging adversarial feelings and a false sense of belonging.

Hope and peace are possible

There is a desperate need for a shift in how world conflict is viewed and managed, and how reconciliation and peace building are pursued at the international level. While top-down approaches that are led by governments and institutions continue, communities are seeking their own solutions. I have seen these attempts with my own eyes and it is why I feel I need to bring them to light. They inspired me and gave me hope.

I come from a family of refugees who had to flee their home and land in 1974 following Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus. I have seen what war and inter-community conflict can do to generations through death, destruction, trauma and suffering.

At the same time, I have seen the peace building power of community-led initiatives, whether owned by women, young people, harming parties or victims. These initiatives tend to share the same restorative justice value – that of power sharing. 

Restorative justice has proven to provide both the values and the practices that can offer community-led alternatives. Restorative justice is a pre-slavery, pre-colonial, pre-genocide form of justice owned by communities. Its values of power sharing, equality, dignity, respect and involvement in decision-making can inform post-conflict reconciliation processes while its practices such as circles and dialogue can give the tools for achieving peace locally.

My current work