Customary Justice and Legal Pluralism in Post-Conflict and Fragile Societies

The United States Institute of Peace, George Washington University (Peace Studies & Culture in Global Affairs Program) and the World Bank Justice for the Poor Program would like to invite you to join us for an upcoming workshop addressing issues surrounding customary justice and legal pluralism in post-conflict and fragile states.

Over the last few years the rule of law community has paid increasing attention to customary justice systems which, in many countries, are by far the predominant means of dispute resolution, and which often reflect the culture and values of the local population to a greater degree than the formal system.   A wide range of international and local rule of law actors are beginning to engage with customary systems in places as varied as Afghanistan, Guatemala, Timor Leste, Southern Sudan, and Liberia, but to a large extent these efforts remain on the margins of the justice reform agenda.

This workshop will convene practitioners, policy makers and scholars to discuss the challenges of promoting rule of law in an environment of legal pluralism, and to share experiences, approaches and lessons learned.  Through both thematic sessions and country case studies, we will identify and assess the variety of programs and initiatives that have sought to address legal pluralism.  We will also consider the following issues from a critical perspective:

• How the reality of customary justice systems and other forms of legal pluralism challenge us to re-think standard justice reform objectives and approaches;
• How empirical assessments can be used to inform more effective strategies and policies;
• What have been effective – and conversely ineffective – approaches to improving the quality of justice in customary mechanisms and mitigating violations of human rights standards;
• What are constructive strategies for linking customary and formal justice systems in order to improve the quality of justice experienced and increase the legitimacy of the state;
• What steps should be taken to mainstream a more robust and context-adequate consideration of legal pluralism among post-conflict rule of law practitioners and policy-makers.

The conference will convene from November 17 to November 18, 2009 at the Elliott School for International Affairs at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.  It is our hope that you will be able to join us and be an actively engage with the panels and discussions listed in our working agenda that is attached for your convenience. Your experience and expertise will bring a valuable perspective to the workshop and help create a lively and informed dialogue that will help us confront the most pressing issues in mainstreaming customary justice in the development agenda.  If you are interested in participating please RSVP online at http://customaryjusticeconference.eventbrite.com, or email Tim Luccaro at tluccaro@usip.org by October 9, 2009.  We look forward to seeing you in November.

Sincerely,

Final Conference Packet