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Amnesty in the Age of Human Rights Accountability

Amnesty in the Age of Human Rights Accountability Comparative and International Perspectives

Author: Francesca Lessa; Leigh A. Payne
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781107617339
Published In: August 2012
Format: Paperback , 456 pages
Jurisdiction: Africa, Asia, Europe, International, U.S. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

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This edited volume brings together well-established and emerging scholars of transitional justice to discuss the persistence of amnesty in the age of human rights accountability. The volume attempts to reframe debates, moving beyond the limited approaches of 'truth versus justice' or 'stability versus accountability' in which many of these issues have been cast in the existing scholarship. The theoretical and empirical contributions in this book offer new ways of understanding and tackling the enduring persistence of amnesty in the age of accountability. In addition to cross-national studies, the volume encompasses eleven country cases of amnesty for past human rights violations: Argentina, Brazil, Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Indonesia, Rwanda, South Africa, Spain, Uganda and Uruguay. The volume goes beyond merely describing these case studies, but also considers what we learn from them in terms of overcoming impunity and promoting accountability to contribute to improvements in human rights and democracy.

• Has a global reach with case studies from the Americas, Africa, Europe and Asia

• Tackles both theoretically and empirically the question of amnesty, which has so far been left of the margins of the transitional justice literature

• All contributors to the volume are specialists in transitional justice and country experts

Contributors	vii
Foreword by Juan E. Méndez	xvii
Acknowledgments	xxx
Introduction Francesca Lessa and Leigh A. Payne	1
Part I: Theoretical Framework	17
1. The Age of Accountability: The Global Rise of Individual Criminal Accountability Kathryn Sikkink	19
2. The Amnesty Controversy in International Law Mark Freeman and Max Pensky	42
Part II: Comparative Case Studies	67
3. Amnesties’ Challenge to the Global Accountability Norm? Interpreting Regional and International Trends in Amnesty Enactment Louise Mallinder	69
4. From Amnesty to Accountability: The Ebb and Flow in the Search for Justice in Argentina Par Engstrom and Gabriel Pereira	97
5. Barriers to Justice: The Ley de Caducidad and Impunity in Uruguay Francesca Lessa	123
6. Resistance to Change: Brazil’s Persistent Amnesty and its Alternatives for Truth and Justice Paulo Abrão and Marcelo D. Torelly	152
7. De Facto and De Jure Amnesty Laws: The Central American Case Emily Braid and Naomi Roht-Arriaza	182
8. Creeks of Justice: Debating Post-Atrocity Accountability and Amnesty in Rwanda and Uganda Phil Clark	210
9. Accountability through Conditional Amnesty: The Case of South Africa Antje du Bois-Pedain	238
10. De Facto Amnesty? The Example of Post-Soeharto Indonesia Patrick Burgess	263
11. A Limited Amnesty? Insights from Cambodia Ronald C. Slye	291
12. The Spanish Amnesty Law of 1977 in Comparative Perspective: From a Law for Democracy to a Law for Impunity Paloma Aguilar	315
Conclusion:Amnesty in the Age of Accountability Tricia D. Olsen, Leigh A. Payne, and Andrew G. Reiter	336
Bibliography	359
Index	383