Amnesties and Inclusive Political Settlements

Abstract

Amnesties are widely used during and after armed conflicts. Despite their controversial nature, international policymakers such as the UN continue to recognise some forms of amnesty in these settings are necessary to facilitate conflict resolution. However, the specific forms and functions of amnesties during conflict and peace, and how they are tied to the negotiation and implementation of the broader peace process have rarely been subject to systematic academic analysis. In this presentation, Mallinder will present work that she is currently undertaking to this gap in the literature. She will draw both on theoretical literature relating to inclusive political settlements and the findings from empirical data analysis relating to 286 amnesties enacted between 1990 and 2016 to describe when, where and how amnesties are used in peace processes, and to explore how through carefully designed conditionality and legal effects amnesties can shape inclusion and exclusion in political settlements.

Bio

Louise Mallinder is a Professor of human rights and international law at the Transitional Justice Institute (TJI). She is also TJI's 'Dealing with the Past' research coordinator. Within her broad interests in international human rights law, international criminal law and law and politics in political transitions, Louise has a particular research interest and expertise in amnesty laws, the role of lawyers as transitional actors, and socio-legal research methods related to transitional justice. She has conducted fieldwork in numerous locations including Northern Ireland, Cambodia, Chile, South Africa, Israel, Palestine, Tunisia, Argentina, Uruguay, Uganda and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Her research has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Nuffield Foundation, the Department for International Development, and the Socio-Legal Studies Association. In addition, Louise's monograph was awarded the 2009 Hart SLSA Early Career Award and was jointly awarded the 2009 British Society of Criminology Book Prize. Louise is a member of the AHRC and ESRC Peer-Review Colleges, the Royal Irish Academy Ethical, Political, Legal and Philosophical Studies Committee and she previously co-chaired the American Society of International Law Transitional Justice and Rule of Law Interest Group. She is also a member of the Institute for Integrated Transition's Law and Peace Practice Group. Louise is also the Chair of the Committee on the Administration of Justice, a human rights NGO in Northern Ireland.