Peace versus Justice: A False Dilemma [by the International Center for Transitional Justice]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWFpngEfu84&feature=player_embedded

Dear colleagues,

Today ICTJ launched a short video about the relationship between peace and justice. ICTJ President David Tolbert and other ICTJ experts speak alongside former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Ishmael Beah, a former child soldier from Sierra Leone, and human rights activists from Kenya, Indonesia and Colombia on the role of justice in sustaining peace, ensuring non-repetition and reinstating respect for the rule of law.

For a long time, making compromises on justice with powerful perpetrators of mass atrocities has been an integral part of peace negotiations. The immediate concern of ending violence often resulted in amnesties for war crimes and crimes against humanity, sometimes even presenting calls for justice as obstacles to peace.

This ICTJ video describes the marked shift in recent years away from the practice of providing immunity from prosecution to those most responsible for mass atrocity. The video illustrates the growing understanding that the two goals of peace and justice, rather than being exclusive, are mutually reinforcing. Peace, when understood as enduring and long-term peace, goes beyond the immediate goal of ending a conflict and relies on justice and accountability to ensure sustainability. Where mass crimes are not addressed, when the root causes of conflict are not sought out and removed, when victims’ calls for justice are not heard, the danger of violence recurring remains high.

We hope you will take a few minutes to watch the video. And we encourage you to share it with your contacts and to use it as a tool in your discussions about peace negotiations.

You are welcome to share the video with a direct link: http://ictj.org/news/peace-versus-justice-false-dilemma

We also welcome you to embed the video on your site. Please write to my colleague, Clare Garvie, cgarvie@ictj.org if you need assistance.

Regards,


Caitlin

Theary Seng's TEDxPhnomP​enh "Reconcili​ng Peace with Justice in Cambodia" presentati​on

The Buddha in the Battlefield, Biography and Philosophy of Samdech Preah Maha Ghosananda - By Ven. Santidhammo

Click here to download the book in Khmer (PDF)

Hello All

My little book about Maha Ghosananda has been translated into Khmer. Here is the link:

http://www.centrepeaceconflictstudies.org/fileadmin/downloads/pdfs/Maha_Ghosananda_Buddha_of_Battlefield.pdf

Please share it with all Cambodians. Maybe we can print some copies to give away to Cambodians.

Peace
Santi
Venerable Santidhammo

Nobel Laureate Inspires Cambodian Students

Aaron Ciechanover

By Im Sothearith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
23 November 2009

While animals may kill each other for food, humans are the only creatures to do so out of cruelty, Nobel laureate Aaron Ciechanover told an assembly of Cambodians earlier this month.

Ciechanover, who won the Noble Prize for chemistry in 2004, reminded 400 participants at the Institute of Technology of Cambodia that greed could drive human cruelty, something not found in other parts of the natural world.

Ciechanover was speaking as part of an Asean “Bridges” program organized by the International Peace Foundation, which is based in Vienna, Austria.

Ciechanover’s Nobel Prize came from the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation, a mechanism by which the cells of most living organisms cull unwanted proteins. He shared the prize with Avram Hershko and Irwin Rose and is seeking the cure for cancer.

Kem Oeun, deputy director-general for the Ministry of Education, who participated in the discussion, said the talk was a reminder that people must unite to build peace, but they must first know themselves.

“We are crueler than such animals as tigers, which kill other animals for food,” he said. “We kill each other for self gain.”

Ciechanover is a distinguished research professor at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, in Haifa, where he was born. He received his doctorate in medicine in 1981 from the institute.

Om Romny, directory of the Institute of Technology of Cambodia, told VOA Khmer the institute was honored to have the laureate, whose talk was a rare opportunity for professors, scientists, students and other participants.

“It is crucial that we exchange our knowledge,” he said. “Particularly, we have learned from him because he is a Nobel laureate. So, we’ve learned from him about the way to conduct research, starting from where to where. That’s what we got from him.”

Someth Paradis, a professor at the Institute of Technology of Cambodia, told VOA Khmer that the lecture was useful for students, professors, and researchers who participated.

“Our students were really interested in Ciechanover’s lecture, which was very encouraging and a driving force for our students,” he said. “I observed that they had pleasant facial expressions while listening to his lecture. They looked more determined in their studies and future research. I think our students want to attach themselves to Ciechanover’s research and wish to win the Nobel Prize, as he did.”

Phat Chan Vorleak, a senior studying food chemistry at the Institute of Technology of Cambodia, said Ciechanover was a role model for her.

“His words encourage me as a student,” she said. “I feel we can do anything when we have a strong will, desire and determination. What I was interested in most is that he is from a small country, and he has tried very hard to study, and was able to continue his studies in the US, but he never gave up on his country. He brought what he studied back to help develop his country.”

Unsettled peace in Cambodia

September 17, 2009
By Chak Sopheap
Guest Commentary
UPI Asia

Niigata, Japan — The world will soon once again celebrate the United Nations International Day of Peace, marked every year on Sept. 21. Yet the world is far from peace as civil wars, religious conflicts, growing insurgencies and the economic downturn bring more hardship than joy and smiles to people. Cambodia is no exception.

Cambodia claims to be a peaceful state, having recovered from a series of civil wars that included horrendous acts of genocide. However, there must be a clear consensus on how the country defines peace.

Peace should not be described as merely the absence of war or violence, which is “negative peace.” It should also include communal harmony, socioeconomic cooperation and equal political representation in government for all citizens. These, along with good governance, which respects the rights of the people, constitute the positive side of peace, or rather peace building.

Even when we say “absence of violence,” we must first examine what violence is. While war is direct visible violence, there is also a kind of “structural violence,” the result of bad and harmful state policies that have long-term negative effects on people, such as hunger and poverty, which harm and put peoples’ lives at risk.

If we look at the current trend in Cambodia, negative peace has been obtained but is jeopardizing positive peace. While parts of the economy are making considerable progress, more than 30 percent of the population is still living in extreme poverty. In addition, with corruption and continuous human rights violations – especially forced evictions and land grabbing under so-called development claims – there is little hope that Cambodia can move out of poverty.

In its current pursuit of development, the government of Cambodia has abused and violated people’s rights to housing and development. The judicial system is corrupt and the state is the main violator of the law. This state of affairs has rendered poor communities voiceless and powerless.

At the same time, freedom of expression – a fundamental right – has also been abused by the government, which applies various ill-defined laws with the help of the judiciary it controls as a political tool to silence critics. It is not surprising that the government recently filed many lawsuits against political activists, journalists and human rights defenders.

Systematic structural violence has not yet affected peace in Cambodia, but it will soon if the government does not undertake and implement reforms immediately. For example, there is fear that the ongoing land grabbing and evictions by the government could lead to a peasant revolution. This would then revive the cycle of bitter agrarian revolution that brought past political regimes, like Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge, to power.

The government therefore must commit to not only maintaining negative peace, but also to building positive peace in order to attain social harmony.
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(Chak Sopheap is a graduate student of peace studies at the International University of Japan. She runs a blog, www.sopheapfocus.com, in which she shares her impressions of both Japan and her homeland, Cambodia. She was previously advocacy officer of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights.)

Plan for a Dhammayietra (Peaceful March) to the KR Tribunal

Monday, December 24, 2007
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

The former victims of the KR regime, including about 600 monks, nuns, Cambodian Muslims, students and the public, plan to organize a Dhammatyietra (Peaceful March) on 25 December, to march to the KR Tribunal. RFA indicated that this first Dhammayietra for justice and peace will start from Wat Phnom park in Phnom Penh and will march to the KR Tribunal located in the city suburb. Ms. Seur Sayana, an official of the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DCCam) said that about 600 people are expected to participate in this Dhammayietra which was already authorized by the authority of the city of Phnom Penh which will ensure its security. The goal of the Dhammayietra is to push to for justice, peace, solidarity, and the end to violence.