This thesis investigated the current human rights situation in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. Despite initial promises for human rights reforms by allowing girls to go to school and a general...Show moreThis thesis investigated the current human rights situation in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. Despite initial promises for human rights reforms by allowing girls to go to school and a general amnesty for those who fought against the Taliban, in reality, neither was upheld. After twenty years of external Western intervention the question then needs to be asked if human rights promotion can achieve lasting institutional change and if so, how? Using the spiral model of human rights promotion and a single-country case study of Afghanistan this thesis analyzed the situation in Afghanistan. As a result, this thesis found that human rights promotion efforts can influence state-building to be both more and less in line with human rights norms. Through the creation and strengthening of a local human rights promotion constituency in a country, it is possible to pressure a regime for change from two fronts. These being the international community and the local constituency. If however this constituency cannot be built and strengthened the international community risks a backlash effect to its promotion efforts which may result in a rally around the flag effect increasing local support for the Taliban. This thesis thus shows that human rights promotion efforts have an important future in building resilience against human rights violations through the creation and supporting of a local human rights promotion constituency.Show less
In the aftermath of the genocide in Rwanda, multiple transitional justice mechanisms have been used to ensure accountability, serve justice and achieve reconciliation, but mainly, to pursue the...Show moreIn the aftermath of the genocide in Rwanda, multiple transitional justice mechanisms have been used to ensure accountability, serve justice and achieve reconciliation, but mainly, to pursue the rights of the victims of Rwanda. The principal of TJ has mostly been on judicial mechanisms, and it has appeared that this is also the case in Rwanda. This research aims to view if and how the ordinary courts, the Gacaca courts and the International Criminal Tribunal (ICTR) for Rwanda have pursued Rwandan victims’ right to compensation. The 2005 Reparation Principles set out by the UN General Assembly indicate the rights of victims after gross violations of human rights. This document also clearly states the right to compensation for a victim. This principle forms the framework which makes it possible in the analysis to examine if and how the various judicial mechanisms in Rwanda have pursued this right. The analysis shows that the maybe not quite expected ordinary courts of Rwanda were best able to pursue the right of compensation compared to the other judicial mechanisms, even though these courts still showed a lack of consistency in providing compensation. The Gacaca courts have attempted to enforce this right. Still, they have largely failed to do so. The ICTR has hardly provided the Rwandan victims with compensation.Show less
The understanding of life as a complex system is becoming more and more prominent in many academic disciplines. This study applies this systems’ perspective to understand how transitional justice ...Show moreThe understanding of life as a complex system is becoming more and more prominent in many academic disciplines. This study applies this systems’ perspective to understand how transitional justice (TJ) practice contributes to reconciliation. Based on existing literature, a theoretical framework is constructed which theorizes that in the social network of TJ society, there is an emergent process towards reconciliation. This process is based on the value of interconnectedness. TJ practices emerge as part of this process and can serve as a catalysator. This emergent process is impacted by formal TJ structure and the TJ governance network. Consequently, this study applies this theoretical framework to the case of the post-genocide gacaca trials in Rwanda. The findings demonstrate that the model provides insights into the case. However, further research is needed to validate the theoretical framework.Show less
Military operations need intelligence to be successful (Gentry, 2019). Since one country cannot possibly know or analyse everything, intelligence sharing is very common between countries and within...Show moreMilitary operations need intelligence to be successful (Gentry, 2019). Since one country cannot possibly know or analyse everything, intelligence sharing is very common between countries and within international organizations, such as NATO. United Nations Peacekeeping Missions’ effectiveness is also partially reliant on the intelligence which is provided by nation states (Herman, 1996; Soeters, 2016). However, intelligence sharing within UN Peacekeeping Missions knows many obstacles. Within this study, the latest UN intelligence project will be analysed: the All Sources Information Fusion Unit (ASIFU) during the Peacekeeping Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). The paper will use a theory by Lefebvre (2003) which denotes six conditions to successful intelligence sharing. Since these conditions are previously not applied to UN Peacekeeping Missions, this research tries to identify to what extent this theory can explain the information sharing process within MINUSMA. This leads to the following research question: “To what extent can Lefebvre’s conditions of intelligence sharing be used to explain the intelligence sharing problem of ASIFU?”. The paper concludes that it is possible to explain some elements of the problematic information sharing process within the mission, but it does not explain every element of it. Therefore, the author suggests future research to apply this theory to more UN Peacekeeping Missions to see if the findings of this study are generalizable.Show less
Cartels have undermined the Mexican government's legitimacy with corruption and excessive violence, while some violent acts committed by cartels breach the threshold of what constitutes a crime...Show moreCartels have undermined the Mexican government's legitimacy with corruption and excessive violence, while some violent acts committed by cartels breach the threshold of what constitutes a crime against humanity. Based on the given jurisdiction of the ICC on crimes against humanity, the effects of a potential ICC intervention in the Mexican conflict on the legitimacy of the present conflict actors are investigated. Changes in the dependent variable 'Legitimacy' based on the following five independent variables 'Conflict Narratives'; 'Individual Framing'; 'Warrant-Stigmatization'; 'Self-Referral'; 'Kingpin-Strategy' are highlighted. This paper conducted a single-country case study to gain in-depth insights into the conflict and to ensure that the generated results have high internal validity. Mixed findings do not give one conclusive answer whether an ICC intervention de- or increases the legitimacy of either conflict party. A Mexican self-referral shapes conflict narratives that represent state actors as good, while the prosecuted cartels are vilified, enabling the Mexican government to regain legitimacy. Another particular effect of an ICC intervention would be an increase in violence. Prosecuting high-ranking cartel members widens splits within cartels, opens power vacuums, and destabilizes the conflict, leading to more violence and ultimately undermining the state's legitimacy.Show less
This thesis aims to answer the question: “How can states balance their peace-justice dilemma’s in the Russia-Ukraine conflict?” It will take a qualitative case study approach using primary and...Show moreThis thesis aims to answer the question: “How can states balance their peace-justice dilemma’s in the Russia-Ukraine conflict?” It will take a qualitative case study approach using primary and secondary data and analyze how various levels of state intervention impact the peacejustice dilemmas states face when intervening in a conflict. This thesis will provide a comprehensive review of the existing literature on the topic and create a theoretical framework from which to analyze the case. This research finds that although various levels of state intervention can have a certain degree of impact on a state’s peace-justice dilemma, there is no “perfect” solution to the dilemma as it remains present to some degree.Show less
This study aims to further the understanding on contestation of transitional justice, by looking at Serbian interaction with three transitional justice initiatives that aim to address human right...Show moreThis study aims to further the understanding on contestation of transitional justice, by looking at Serbian interaction with three transitional justice initiatives that aim to address human right violations from the Kosovo War. It builds on the trial of cooperation model, and finds that target states change their response to transitional justice initiatives on the basis of the domestic political landscape, the nature of the initiative, pressures from the international community and to a lesser extent, pressures from the domestic public.Show less
This paper seeks to determine how international criminal justice tribunals contributed to the process of legitimation in two widely controversial international military interventions, the Kosovo...Show moreThis paper seeks to determine how international criminal justice tribunals contributed to the process of legitimation in two widely controversial international military interventions, the Kosovo intervention by NATO in 1999, and the Libyan intervention in 2011. This paper utilizes a comparative case study approach with qualitative content analysis which aims to advance our understanding of the process of legitimacy in conflicts. The findings indicate that the ICTY and ICC indictments of Miloševic and Gaddafi were crucial turning points in upholding NATO’s reputation in the public, and ultimately deeming their purposes of intervention in favor of humanitarian efforts legitimate. However, the findings indicate that a key difference in the process of legitimation with respect to the two cases constituted contextual factors. The paper aims to fill a gap in knowledge that is relevant for future events and prominent ongoing events today, such as the Russo-Ukrainian conflict.Show less
In the second half of the 20th century, the world witnessed the emergence of new states. With the emergence of new states in newly established borders, new issues arose. One of these issues is the...Show moreIn the second half of the 20th century, the world witnessed the emergence of new states. With the emergence of new states in newly established borders, new issues arose. One of these issues is the emerging disputes between different ethnopolitical groups within these new states. In many of the examples, especially in Eurasia, it can be observed that these disputes turned into frozen conflicts, and these frozen conflicts led to the establishment of de facto states. With the deep historic roots of these conflicts and ties of ethnic groups to other states, international intervention has been an important element of frozen conflicts. Recognizing the transformation from war to peace to be a two-step process where peace can be present either in the form of negative or positive peace, reconciliation is identified to be the way positive peace is achieved from negative peace. Using a qualitative case study approach, the thesis looks into how the Reconciliation Pyramid of Auerbach would be applied to the case of Cyprus to determine the role international intervention plays in the reconciliation process and further reflect on the failure of international intervention so far. It is found that international interventions negatively impact reconciliation processes during frozen conflicts due to their deeply rooted historical involvement in the emergence of issues that generated the conflict as well as their remaining individual incentives.Show less
