{"id":2046,"date":"2023-12-18T14:16:20","date_gmt":"2023-12-18T13:16:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hirondelle.org\/understanding-mass-violence-to-prevent-it-recurring"},"modified":"2023-12-18T14:16:20","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T13:16:20","slug":"understanding-mass-violence-to-prevent-it-recurring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hirondelle.org\/en\/understanding-mass-violence-to-prevent-it-recurring","title":{"rendered":"Understanding mass violence to prevent it recurring"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thierry Cruvellier is editor of Justice\u00a0Info, a Fondation Hirondelle media\u00a0outlet that covers justice initiatives in\u00a0countries facing the most serious forms\u00a0of violence. \u201cFor justice to be done, it\u00a0must be seen\u201d is Justice Info\u2019s motto.<\/strong><\/p>\n

You have been covering justice processes\u00a0<\/b>around the world for nearly 30 years, particularly trials for crimes against humanity. Why this\u00a0<\/b>fascination?<\/b><\/p>\n

Thierry Cruvellier:<\/b> In the early 1990s, I was working as a reporter in Sierra Leone and Rwanda. The\u00a0genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda that started in April\u00a01994 changed my whole professional and intellectual life. I wanted to follow the first trials of the\u00a0International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR),\u00a0set up by the UN in November 1994 and based in\u00a0Arusha, Tanzania. I went to Arusha for five weeks\u00a0and stayed for five years. For our generation of\u00a0journalists, these trials, like those of the International\u00a0Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in\u00a0The Hague, were the equivalent of the Nuremberg\u00a0trials. We were witnessing a major development in\u00a0international criminal justice. The international community seemed to be saying that justice was key to lasting peace in societies torn apart by mass\u00a0murder. Several bodies were successively created,\u00a0with a regional scope or a universal vocation, such\u00a0as the International Criminal Court (ICC). Assigning\u00a0individual criminal responsibility for certain serious\u00a0acts that contravene the norms of international\u00a0law also became a geopolitical issue. There are\u00a0political and diplomatic strategies revolving\u00a0around these judicial institutions.<\/p>\n

Since then I have covered numerous justice processes around the world, especially for crimes\u00a0against humanity (Sierra Leone, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia, Colombia, Chad).\u00a0International criminal justice and transitional justice have become my field of work. Covering these\u00a0international trials allows you not only to observe\u00a0developments in international law and politics, but\u00a0also to take a reflective look at human society from\u00a0different perspectives: historical, thanks to eyewitness accounts; psychological, if we want to\u00a0understand mass violence; and philosophical with\u00a0regard to notions of punishment, forgiveness and\u00a0reconciliation. It\u2019s an\u00a0infinitely rich field for a\u00a0journalist. The trial of one\u00a0individual can reveal the\u00a0wider picture, complex\u00a0and traumatic, through\u00a0what happened in one life.<\/p>\n

What are the specific constraints of a journalist\u00a0working on these issues?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Journalists working on international and\u00a0transitional justice are subject to the same ethical\u00a0imperatives as all journalists: independence, clarity,\u00a0accuracy and impartiality. But the degree of\u00a0vigilance and rigour needed with regard to these\u00a0imperatives is sometimes very high, for several\u00a0reasons. First, you have to read up intensively on\u00a0the history of the conflicts, which are often\u00a0complex and take place in countries far from the\u00a0journalist\u2019s cultural origins. You have to read up on\u00a0the law and legal procedure, which are also\u00a0complex and may be used by the courts to mask\u00a0their own weaknesses. You also need not to be\u00a0overwhelmed by empathy, even if empathy for\u00a0the victims seems natural. You must not allow\u00a0yourself to be overwhelmed by the extremity of\u00a0the charges, nor too impressed by the institution\u00a0judging them. When dealing with this extreme\u00a0violence and the individuals accused of\u00a0participating in it, there is a great risk of forgetting\u00a0the presumption of innocence. Journalists must\u00a0pay particular attention to listening to all the\u00a0parties involved, including the defence, whose\u00a0voice is often the least audible in this type of trial.\u00a0Like all judicial institutions, especially on an\u00a0international scale, these courts are places of\u00a0power: they are never immune from producing\u00a0injustices or miscarriages of justice. What\u2019s more,\u00a0they operate in a kind of democratic desert, since\u00a0they are usually far removed from the societies\u00a0where the crimes were committed (ICTR in Arusha,\u00a0ICTY and International Criminal\u00a0Court in The Hague) and lack\u00a0the traditional checks and\u00a0balances. Journalists must\u00a0therefore be particularly\u00a0attentive to the fact that\u00a0covering international justice is\u00a0always about democracy.<\/p>\n

Which media cover these international and transitional justice proceedings best?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Covering trials is a long-term job. To follow a trial with\u00a0a sufficiently detailed understanding, you have to be\u00a0there all the time, for months or even years. It is often\u00a0media operating as NGOs that provide this coverage,\u00a0rather than general media that lack the time and\u00a0resources. So it\u2019s the NGO media that has provided\u00a0detailed and long-term coverage of international trials.<\/p>\n

In this context, the stronger the national press is, the\u00a0more likely it is that international trials will be covered.\u00a0Through their knowledge of the country, national\u00a0journalists not only provide a critical and analytical\u00a0view of the trials in progress, but also do a better job of\u00a0publicising their country\u2019s judicial decisions. The\u00a0national media can exert more pressure to make the\u00a0trials public, thereby compensating as well as they can\u00a0for the democratic deficit from which the international\u00a0courts suffer.<\/p>\n

At Justice Info, we work\u00a0exclusively with correspondents. Our media is conceived\u00a0as an interface between the\u00a0local and the international,\u00a0and is aimed at both these\u00a0audiences. Hence the importance I attach to the work of\u00a0our correspondents, who have made a long-term\u00a0commitment to the transitional justice processes in\u00a0their countries \u2013 including Olfa Belhassine\u2019s coverage\u00a0of Tunisia\u2019s Truth and Dignity Commission on human\u00a0rights violations committed by the state after the 2011\u00a0revolution; Mustapha Darboe\u2019s work on the Gambian\u00a0Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission\u00a0dealing with human rights violations that occurred\u00a0after the dictatorship in Gambia; and the work of\u00a0Andr\u00e9s Berm\u00fadez Li\u00e9vano on the extraordinarily complex and ambitious transitional justice process that is\u00a0still underway in Colombia (see box). Their articles have\u00a0provided readers with a real understanding of these\u00a0processes that is hard to equal.<\/p>\n

What are the latest developments in transitional\u00a0justice and how do they impact your work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unlike 30 years ago, serious violations of international\u00a0law are no longer a niche issue. They are now front-page\u00a0news in the mainstream media, as is currently the case\u00a0with the conflicts in Ukraine and Israel\/Palestine (see\u00a0box). At Justice Info, we try to provide a link. Our starting\u00a0point is the perhaps na\u00efve but fundamental idea of\u00a0international justice: an atrocity that defies human\u00a0dignity in one part of the world actually concerns all of\u00a0humanity. In our articles, we try to highlight what\u00a0resonates from one crime to another, from one country\u00a0to another, from one judicial process to another, in order\u00a0to give an understanding of this violence \u2013 our modest\u00a0way to help combat it, and end this eternal repetition.<\/p>\n

Transitional justice no longer concerns only post-war\u00a0situations or the end of a dictatorship. The central\u00a0argument of human rights violation is now being used\u00a0by numerous NGOs that are taking actors like\u00a0multinational companies to court for their responsibility\u00a0in climate change and other environmental destruction.\u00a0The issue of reparation for colonial crimes, including the\u00a0restitution of goods looted from colonised societies, has\u00a0returned to the forefront.<\/p>\n

Several truth commissions have also been set up on\u00a0these subjects. The issue of indigenous peoples \u2013 victims of colonisation and the destruction of their living\u00a0environment by land grabbing, industrial extraction or\u00a0intensive agriculture \u2013 is at the heart of this renewal of\u00a0international and transitional justice. More often than\u00a0not, the responsibility for contemporary violence now\u00a0lies with actors in the North, not just in the South. This\u00a0doesn\u2019t change the journalist\u2019s job per se, but our\u00a0network of correspondents needs to be constantly\u00a0expanded to keep up with these dynamics.<\/p>\n

The subjects of international and transitional justice are\u00a0constantly evolving, and respond to public expectations.\u00a0We have to adapt to them and anticipate them.\u00a0Violations committed by extremist groups, religious\u00a0institutions, gangs and police violence are, for example,\u00a0real issues that we will have to deal with in future\u00a0publications.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This interview is taken from our 12th publication “Mediation” entitled “Making sense of international and transitional justice”, available at this link<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thierry Cruvellier is editor of Justice\u00a0Info, a Fondation Hirondelle media\u00a0outlet that covers justice initiatives in\u00a0countries facing the most serious forms\u00a0of violence. \u201cFor justice to be done, it\u00a0must be seen\u201d is Justice Info\u2019s motto. You have been covering justice processes\u00a0around the world for nearly 30 years, particularly trials for crimes against humanity. Why this\u00a0fascination? Thierry Cruvellier: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":2742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[196],"tags":[239,240,303],"class_list":["post-2046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-our-news","tag-how-we-work-information-dialogue","tag-current-project-justice-info","tag-expertise-justice-and-reconciliation"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-23 05:29:53","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hirondelle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hirondelle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hirondelle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hirondelle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hirondelle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hirondelle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hirondelle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hirondelle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hirondelle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hirondelle.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}