Harvey M. Weinstein

My Neighbor, My Enemy: Justice and Community in the Aftermath of Mass Atrocity

List of contributors Foreword Ariel Dorfman Acknowledgments Introduction: conflict, justice and reclamation Harvey M. Weinstein and Eric Stover Part I. Institutional Approaches to Justice: Introduction 1. A world unto itself? The application of international justice in the former Yugoslavia Laurel E. Fletcher and Harvey M. Weinstein 2. Legal responses to genocide in Rwanda Alison des Forges and Timothy Longman 3. Localizing justice: gacaca courts in post-genocide Rwanda Urusaro Alice Karekezi, Alphonse Nshimiyimana and Beth Mutamba 4. Exhumation of mass graves: balancing legal and humanitarian needs Eric Stover and Rachel Shigekane 5. Witnesses and the promise of justice in The Hague Eric Stover 6. Reparations in the aftermath of repression and mass violence Naomi Roht-Arriaza Part II. Social Reconstruction and Justice: Introduction 7. Neighbors again? Intercommunity relations after ethnic cleansing Dinka Corkalo, Dean Ajdukovic, Harvey M. Weinstein, Eric Stover, Dino Djipa and Miklos Biro 8. Memory, identity, and community in Rwanda Timothy Longman and Theoneste Rutagengwa 9. Attitudes toward justice and social reconstruction in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia Miklos Biro, Dean Ajdukovic, Dinka Corkalo, Dina Djipa, Petar Milin and Harvey M. Weinstein 10. Connecting justice to human experience: attitudes toward accountability and reconciliation in Rwanda Timothy Longman, Phuong Pham and Harvey M. Weinstein 11. Public education and social reconstruction in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia Sarah Warshauer Freedman, Dinka Corkalo, Naomi Levy, Dino Abazovic, Bronwyn Leebaw, Dean Ajdukovic, Dino Djipa and Harvey M. Weinstein 12. Confronting the past in Rwandan schools Sarah Warshauer Freedman, Deo Kambanda, Beth Lewis Samuelson, Innocent Mugisha, Immaculee Mukashema, Evode Mukama, Jean Mutabaruka, Harvey M. Weinstein and Timothy Longman Part III. Survivors and Justice: Introduction 13. Art out of the rubble Pamela Blotner 14. Trust and betrayal in war Dean Ajdukovic and Dinka Corkalo 15. Empathy and rehumanization after mass violence Jodi Halpern and Harvey M. Weinstein Conclusion: a common objective, a universe of alternatives Eric Stover and Harvey M. Weinstein Index.

Rehumanizing the Other: Empathy and Reconciliation

The health effects of intra-ethnic conflict include hatred and fear among neighbors and friends who have become enemies. The dehumanization of specific groups through concomitant stereotyping does not stop when conflicts end. The inability to see former enemies as real people impedes reconciliation. While much attention has been paid to the reconstruction of infrastructure and the establishment of rule of law, little thought has been given to what is required at the day to day level in order to restore a sense of interpersonal security. To reverse the destruction of social and familial networks that normally sustain health and well-being, a process of rehumanization must occur. We suggest that the promotion of empathy is a critical component of reconciliation.

The Harvard Trauma Questionnaire: Adapting a Cross-Cultural Instrument for Measuring Torture, Trauma and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Iraqi Refugees

Background: Mental health assessments in post-conflict zones have relied heavily on Western psychiatric scales. Yet, a strict dependence on the paradigms of Western psychiatry risks inappropriately prioritizing syndromes, such as PTSD, which, however important, are eclipsed by local concerns. Material and discussion: In Dearborn, Michigan, home to the largest population of Iraqi refugees in the United States, 60 Iraqi refugee life stories were collected in order to adapt the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ) to the Iraqi context. Conclusion: The methodology described proved to be a useful approach to developing a trauma measure that is culturally grounded in a multi-dimensional model of mental health.

Teaching History after Identity‐Based Conflicts: The Rwanda Experience

[Hutu extremist] organizers of the [Rwandan] genocide, who had themselves grown up with . . . distortions of history, skillfully exploited misconceptions about who the Tutsi were, where they had come from, and what they had done in the past. From these elements, they fueled the fear and hatred that made genocide imaginable. (Des Forges 1999, 31) A country’s history is often a central concern after violent, identity-based conflicts, regardless of where they occur. Why does history take on such significance? As expressed in Alison Des Forges’s explanation of Rwanda in the epigraph, all sides tend to blame cross-group hatred and ensuing conflicts, at least in part, on past injustice. Citizens of countries that have experienced such devastation can often see how political leaders distorted and then exploited national history to incite violence. As countries seek social repair, many believe that a new and more truthful history must be transmitted to the next generation through revised history curricula in schools. In such disparate places as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Germany, Guatemala, Japan, Northern Ireland, and Rwanda, the reteaching of history has been expected to lay the foundation for social reconstruction, a better future, and a lasting peace (Cole and Barsalou 2006; Hodgkin 2006; Cole 2007a, 2007b). In response to the educational challenges countries face after violent conflict, we explored the links between larger political processes and decisions about teaching history. We focus on secondary schools in Rwanda, where we have been working on educational issues since 2001, and ask the questions: How can material for a history curriculum be developed to avoid propaganda? What tensions surface when teachers negotiate an increasingly repressive

Context, Timing and the Dynamics of Transitional Justice: A Historical Perspective

Legal process is invoked by supporters of transitional justice as necessary if not a precondition for societies affected by mass violence to transition into a new period of peace and stability. In this paper, we question the presumption that trials and/or truth commissions should be an early response to initiating a transitional justice process. We conducted a multi-factorial, qualitative analysis of seven case studies in countries impacted by mass violence and repression—Argentina, Cambodia, Guatemala, Timor-Leste, Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone, and South Africa. What emerges is a fuller appreciation of the dynamic system in which transitional justice interventions occur. Each system component may influence the outcome of these interventions. We offer principles that can guide institutional development, scholarship, and policy prescriptions in the area of transitional justice.

school voices challenges facing education systems after identity-based conflicts

We describe our research on the role of education in the social reconstruction of countries after mass conflict. Our studies focus on the voices of those least heard in the discourse - teachers, students, administrators and parents. We examine schools in four societies that experienced profound violence, ethnic cleansing and genocide during the 1990s - Croatia, the UN-administered province of Kosovo in Serbia-Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Rwanda. We question the assumptions that underlie current practice such as a narrow focus on emergency interventions, conflict resolution, peace education and textbook reform. Societal repair must involve a comprehensive set of interventions that recognizes the integrated nature of a society’s institutions. Schools are a unique component of building a long-term future.

My Neighbor, My Enemy: Attitudes toward justice and social reconstruction in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia

In this study we examined the factors that may contribute to or prevent the rebuilding of war-torn societies, based on two surveys of attitudes and beliefs of the inhabitants of three cities – Vukovar, Mostar and Prijedor – in 2000 and 2002. The main goals of our study were: to investigate some of the underlying attitudes and beliefs of the population of Mostar, Prijedor and Vukovar toward the rebuilding of community and reconciliation. The total sample of the survey consisted of 1624 participants, divided equally among national groups in each city. The questionnaire consisted of 68 items and contained three scales and questions about attitudes toward nationalism and xenophobia, other national groups, reconciliation, the ICTY and war crimes, as well as questions about prior experience with members of the other national groups, traumatic experiences during the war and demographic data. The results suggest that authoritarianism, nationalism and ethnocentrism may be the most important obstacles to the process of reconciliation among ethnic groups in target communities. An important finding is that the level of traumatic experience by itself is not a significant predictor of reconciliation. However, when combined with negative experience with opposing group trauma becomes a serious obstacle. The relationship between trauma and the attitudes towards ICTY trials is even less clear, and the role of the ICTY in promoting reconciliation is far from being perceived as accomplished.

Bosnian and Soviet refugees' experiences with health care.

Studies of refugees in the United States rarely address health the first few years following resettlement in part because the refugees become subsumed under the foreign-born or immigrant category. A national study reaffirmed the so-called healthy immigrant effect, but fewer sick days and less physician use may actually reflect access problems, economic concerns, and health beliefs or practices that clash with American health care. Because statistics may mask differences in health and why people seek professional care, it is important to combine qualitative and quantitative approaches. This study examined health, illness, and health care use patterns of refugees in Northern California using a database analysis, a medical record review, and an ethnographic study of the Bosnian and former Soviet Union refugee communities. This article describes some ethnographic findings from participant observation, semistructured interviews, and focus groups, with an emphasis on peoples experiences with health care, health risk behaviors, and self-care.

Sense of coherence and its association with exposure to traumatic events, posttraumatic stress disorder, and depression in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is the scene of some of the worst atrocities in recent history. However, in the face of traumatic experience, only a minority of people develops symptoms that impair their functioning. The sense of coherence proposed by Antonovsky (1987) is a theoretical construct reflecting an individuals overall wellbeing and ability to cope with stress. This study explores the relationships between sense of coherence, exposure to traumatic events, symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression. Results suggest an association between a high sense of coherence and high education levels, high income, and positive social relationships. Furthermore, the study found that sense of coherence is inversely correlated with cumulative exposure to violence and symptoms of PTSD and depression.

Human rights, transitional justice, public health and social reconstruction

Mass violence, armed conflict, genocide, and complex humanitarian emergencies continue to create major social and public health disasters at the dawn of the 21st Century. Transitional justice, a set of policies designed to address the effects of war on traumatized communities and bring justice, lies at the nexus of public health, conflict, and social reconstruction. Despite the paucity of empirical evidence, advocates of transitional justice have claimed that it can alleviate the effects of trauma, deter future violence, and bring about social reconstruction in war-affected communities. Empirical evidence--including new data and analyses presented in this article--suggests a link between trauma, mental health and attitudes towards and responses to transitional justice programs, but there has been little theoretical discussion about the intersection between public health and transitional justice, and even less empirical research to generate discussion between these two fields. Yet, public health professionals have an important role to play in assessing the impact of transitional justice on communities affected by mass violence. In this paper, we offer a conceptual model for future research that seeks to examine the relationship between transitional justice programs and their potential value to the fields of medicine and public health and discuss the methodological issues and challenges to a comprehensive evaluation of this relationship. To illustrate the discussion, we examine new data and analyses from two cases of contemporary conflicts, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and northern Uganda.