In this context, both governmental organisations and NGOs face the challenge of

• shattering the continuation of the reality that has been created by the war both on an individual and on a social and political level,
• helping to establish structures and mechanisms for peaceful conflict resolution, and
• supporting long term processes of confidence-building, co-existence, reconciliation and of the re-establishment of justice.

A whole range of approaches has been developed, each associated with specific terms and emphasising particular values that deal with these challenges: confidence building, coexistence, peace building, dealing with the past, transitional justice and reconciliation. Experiences of past decades suggest that truth-seeking mechanisms and public recognition of responsibility, as well as restoring justice through various means, particularly for the victims of violence, are important elements of any process which deals with the legacy of war and violence.
The concept of "Transitional Justice" is particularly geared towards these elements and provides concrete options for their implementation (e.g. prosecution, reparation, lustration, and truth commissions).

At the same time, the need to implement both "justice" and "truth" gives rise to tensions which have to be taken into account by organisations working in such situations:

• formal justice/criminal jurisdiction vs. informal conflict management mechanisms,
• finding the truth/documentation vs. a culture of memories and victim identity in fragmented societies,
• the relationship between perpetrator and victim, and
• demobilisation and amnesty vs. prosecution.

FriEnt Activities

FriEnt's activities focus on specific examples of these tensions as well as on associated challenges and courses of action for governmental and non-governmental actors.

Activities to date have included:

• workshops and expert talks,
• compilation of lessons learned,
• workshop reports and other publications such as guidelines and briefing papers,
• national and international networking and
• individual consultations for FriEnt members on an ad-hoc basis.

FriEnt-Publications

Engaging with Victims and Perpetrators in Transitional Justice and Peace Building Processes
Dokumentation des Internationalen Workshops, 12. - 13. Februar 2008
FriEnt | 2008

Development and Legitimacy in Transitional Justice
Report from Workshops at the Conference ´Building a Future on Peace and Justice`
Susanne Reiff, Sylvia Servaes, Natascha Zupan | FriEnt | 2007

Transitional Justice & Dealing with the Past
FriEnt Guidance Paper
Natascha Zupan and Sylvia Servaes | FriEnt | 2007

For the Sake of Peace …Transitional Justice as a Field of Development-oriented Peace Work
Frient-Briefing 4/2005 - English version
Sylvia Servaes and Natascha Zupan | FriEnt | 2006