Press Releases:

May 19, 2004

Report Release: Iraqi Voices

Report Provides Insight on Iraqi Attitudes and Recommendations for Justice and Social Reconstruction

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Suzana Grego
Director of Communications
International Center for Transitional Justice
Tel: 917.438.9331
E-mail: sgrego@ictj.org

NEW YORK, May 19, 2004—The U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) should suspend a number of its justice and social reconstruction programs in Iraq, pending review and further consultation with a broader section of Iraqi society, urges a report issued today by the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) and the Human Rights Center (HRC) at the University of California, Berkeley.

The 74-page report, entitled "Iraqi Voices: Attitudes Toward Transitional Justice and Social Reconstruction," is based on a survey undertaken in mid-2003 that consulted a broad cross-section of the Iraqi population. Providing a portrait of the nuanced and often sophisticated perspectives of ordinary Iraqis as well as concrete recommendations for moving forward, the report offers a sound basis for both Iraqi and international policymakers as they grapple with the country's past and seek to establish a society where the rule of law and human rights are respected.

"Past justice and social reconstruction processes have been flawed and mistakes have been made based on unjustified assumptions about Iraqi needs and demands, and poor\ advice from a very limited number of people," said Hanny Megally, director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at the ICTJ. "The upcoming June 30 handover provides an opportunity to change this dynamic. Steps should be taken to educate Iraqis about the range of options and processes should be initiated to ensure wider consultation among Iraqis before policies are formulated and programs implemented."

The report reveals much about Iraqi sentiments on several key issues: past human rights abuses, justice and accountability, truth-seeking, de-Ba'athification, reparations, and social reconstruction and reconciliation. Perhaps most important, the findings show that Iraqis, as the victims of Saddam Hussein's regime, are eager to be consulted and have strong views about what should happen in their country, particularly on issues related to justice, human rights, and social reconstruction. On the issue of de-Ba'athification, while there was consensus that those responsible for human rights abuses should be held accountable, respondents felt that it was unfair to penalize individuals solely on the basis of party membership and drew clear distinctions between supporters of Saddam Hussein and Ba'ath party members. In its recommendations, the report calls for a suspension of the de-Ba'athification program until a new vetting process with fair and clear criteria is established after the handover in late June.

Many respondents expressed widespread suspicion of the outside world, including the U.S., the United Nations, and Arab states, for leaving Iraqis to their fate and supporting the former regime. However, despite generally negative attitudes toward international involvement in Iraq, many recognized that the Iraqi judicial system might not be capable of mounting fair and independent trials and that outside expertise and support, provided in a noncontrolling manner, was needed to achieve justice and establish respect for the rule of law. The report criticizes the tight U.S. control of every stage of the justice process and urges greater involvement of independent international experts.

Respondents showed a strong desire for the rest of the world to know the full truth of what happened in Iraq and recognized that such a process would have to go beyond prosecutions and involve some form of truth-seeking. This highlights the need for carefully planned and organized education programs to raise Iraqis' awareness of the broad range of transitional justice options and the past experiences of other countries, and assist them in making informed decisions about their future.

"Even though they form the basis of social reconstruction, the areas of legal justice, truth-seeking, the rule of law, and security should not be the sole focus of intervention," said Dr. Harvey Weinstein, associate director of the Human Rights Center and clinical professor at the School of Public Health, at the University of California, Berkeley. "Social reconstruction requires attention to issues of distributive justice, including economic, cultural, and social rights, as well as human rights education, school reform, freedom of the press, and freedom of movement. All Iraqis from all ethnic and religious groups must be engaged in this essential process of building trust and unity."

The report concludes that the transition to a society based on the rule of law must be approached with a holistic transitional justice strategy that incorporates prosecutions, investigations and exhumations, vetting, institutional reform, and social reconstruction and reconciliation.

About the ICTJ

The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) assists countries pursuing accountability for past mass atrocity or human rights abuse. The Center works in societies emerging from repressive rule or armed conflict, as well as in established democracies where historical injustices or systemic abuse remain unresolved.

In order to promote justice, peace, and reconciliation, government officials and nongovernmental advocates are likely to consider a variety of transitional justice approaches including both judicial and nonjudicial responses to human rights crimes. The ICTJ assists in the development of integrated, comprehensive, and localized approaches to transitional justice comprising five key elements: prosecuting perpetrators, documenting and acknowledging violations through non-judicial means such as truth commissions, reforming abusive institutions, providing reparations to victims, and facilitating reconciliation processes.

The Center is committed to building local capacity and generally strengthening the emerging field of transitional justice, and works closely with organizations and experts around the world to do so. By working in the field through local languages, the ICTJ provides comparative information, legal and policy analysis, documentation, and strategic research to justice and truth-seeking institutions, nongovernmental organizations, governments and others.

About the Human Rights Center

Founded in 1994 with the assistance of the Sandler Family Supporting Foundation, UC Berkeley's Human Rights Center is a unique interdisciplinary research and teaching enterprise that reaches across academic disciplines to conduct research in emerging issues in international human rights and humanitarian law. While basing its programs in the legal framework that defines the field, the Center has deliberately chosen not to situate its work within a law school but within the larger University, where it draws upon the creativity and expertise of scholars in such diverse programs and departments as anthropology, demography, education, ethnic studies, geography, journalism, law, political science, and public health.