Transitional Justice and Education: Learning Peace

Clara Ramírez-Barat and Roger Duthie
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After periods of conflict and authoritarianism, education institutions often need to be reformed or rebuilt. But in settings where education has been used to support repressive policies and human rights violations, or where conflict and abuses have resulted in lost educational opportunities, legacies of injustice may pose significant challenges to effective reform. Peacebuilding and development perspectives, which normally drive the reconstruction agenda, pay little attention to the violent past. Transitional Justice and Education: Learning Peace presents the findings of a collaborative research project of the International Center for Transitional Justice and UNICEF on the relationship between transitional justice and education in peacebuilding contexts. The book examines how transitional justice can shape the reform of education systems by ensuring programs are sensitive to the legacies of the past, how it can facilitate the reintegration of children and youth into society, and how education can engage younger generations in the work of transitional justice.

Learn more about the research project here. Purchase the book or download it for free from the Social Science Research Council here.

The book’s 13 chapters examine the following topics:

  • Teaching about the Recent Past and Citizenship Education during Democratic Transitions Ana Maria Rodino
  • Education Reform through a Transitional Justice Lens: The Ambivalent Transitions of Bosnia and Northern Ireland Karen Murphy
  • History, Memory, and Education: Is It Possible to Consolidate a Culture of Peace in Guatemala? Gustavo Palma Murga
  • Education for Overcoming Massive Human Rights Violations Cristian Correa
  • Education as a Form of Reparation in Chile Lorena Escalona Gonzalez
  • Education as Redress in South Africa: Opening the Doors of Learning to All Teboho Moja
  • Outreach to Children in the Transitional Justice Process of Sierra Leone Zoe Dugal
  • Building a Legacy: The Youth Outreach Program at the ICTY Nerma Jelacic
  • Outreach and Education at the Liberation War Museum in Bangladesh Mofidul Hoque
  • Historical Commissions and Education Outreach: Challenges and Lessons for Transitional Justice Alexander Karn
  • Facing the Past-- Transforming Our Future: A Professional Development Program for History Teachers in South Africa Dylan Wray
  • Addressing the Recent Past in Schools: Reflections from Cote d'Ivoire Virginie Ladisch and Joanna Rice
  • Grappling with Lebanon's Enduring Violence: Badna Naaref, an Intergenerational Oral History Project Lynn Maalouf and Christalla Yakinthou