Panel 6: Transforming Local Practices in the Wake of Conflict
Wednesday, 16/7/2008, 11:00-12:30 | Room HOGC 03.101
Chair: Sinclair Dinnen
Discussant: Rochman Achwan
Sidelining Gender Based Violence in the East Timorese Hybrid Court and the Failure of Norm Penetration
My paper examines the contribution of Timor Leste's hybrid international/domestic judicial institutions (The 2000-2005 Serious Crimes Process and the enduring mixed system since then) to combating gender-based violence in a society where traditional conceptions on the propriety of such violence frequently contradict international human rights norms. Sexual violence and domestic violence remain very prevalent country wide. 43.2% of women report at least one incident of violence, and it make up 67% of complaints to police. Sexual violence makes up 23% of criminal trials. The legitimacy and limits of gender-based violence are culturally contested, but the hybrid courts offer the opportunity to apply international norms with international expertise and domestic legitimacy. They also offer the opportunity to inform the practice of traditional adat and mediation processes which traditionally exclude women in leadership and make decisions along patriarchal lines to which most Timorese women are unwilling to approach in relation to sexual abuse or serious domestic violence. However, the experience in Timor has been mixed - improved rates of prosecution and treatment of victims in court have been matched with failure to apply international best practice in sentencing, the law of consent, victim protection and juvenile sexual assault. Functioning outreach and constructive links with traditional justice systems have not been developed in what remains a village-based society where the potential norm penetration from the centre is limited.
Timor Leste: Peacebuilding under Conditions of Political 'Hybridity'
Peacebuilding seeks to support rebuilding social and political relationships, trust and political order in the face of a legacy or ongoing reality of violent conflict. The need for re/building exists not only at the level of state institutions (despite their critical importance) but also at the level of ‘everyday life' - of access to livelihood and security and of the basic socio-political dynamics shaping everyday interactions. The international drive to rebuild states, however, can fail to engage with questions of what community means for local people, and so aim for a language and order of community that few local people recognise. A focus on rapid institutional transfer can leave institutions significantly disconnected from prevalent social practices or values or divorced from socio-political dynamics.
Timor Leste exemplifies this dynamic, with division within government but also significant gulfs between government and major social forces and value-systems, particularly the church and traditional life. While there is some church-government dialogue, efforts at constructive interaction involving customary values or mechanisms are not developed. Most Timorese, however, are subsistence farmers still enmeshed in elements of customary systems; many communities are re-invigorating customary governance mechanisms and seeking reconciliation and peace drawing on traditional spiritual and social systems. After decades of repression, disruption and urbanisation, these efforts are fraught but nevertheless spontaneous. There is a significant gulf between such local efforts to rebuild community and the public discourse of political life in Timor. Such gulfs can threaten political resilience and communication and become an obstacle to peace. This paper explores the role of custom and local governance values in East Timor, as sources of peacebuilding and social resilience but also as pathways for the expression of deeply felt social needs and so raises questions about constructive peacebuilding and statebuilding under conditions of political hybridity.
Rebuilding Community: Trying to bring Dayaks and Madurese Together in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia
In February of 2001, violent conflict broke out on the outskirts of Sampit, the capital of Kotawaringin Timur Regency in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. This violence, as well as what followed over the next two months, pitted the "locals" of the region (the Dayaks) against migrant groups (primarily the Madurese). The research reported in this paper was conducted during a brief period in 2003-2004 and a more extensive period in 2006. As such, the focus is on post-conflict reconstruction and peacebuilding. Utilizing interviews, participant observation, and document analysis as the data sources, we focus here on the centripetal forces (forces of unity) and centrifugal forces (forces of difference) revealed in post-conflict interactions involving the Dayaks and the Madurese. We address questions concerning how the local government and lawmakers as well as ethnic organizations promote or fail to promote openness in newly established communication processes. We also address the roles of non-governmental organizations in assisting the members of the community to build trust across ethnic groups. Through our analyses, we point to persistent problems that contribute to the continuing existence of a social distance between the Dayaks and the Madurese.
Post-conflict problems include unchanged perceptions (stereotypes) of the other, Dayak reluctance to accept Madurese returnees to the region, and alleged aggressive Christian evangelism. As the conflict was not resolved and key problems were not addressed, Central Kalimantan is still susceptible to future conflict which could take the form of either interethnic conflict or religious conflict.
Achieving "Peace" Through Poverty Reduction: Evidence from the Philippines
Poverty alleviation programs in Bohol province in the Philippines started out as an anti-insurgency solution rather than a design to achieve poverty reduction in 1998. As a matter of fact, one of the first maps related to the province's poverty reduction efforts was an insurgency map which became the basis of the targeting of provincial poverty programs. Barangays were classified as influenced, infiltrated, or threatened by the country's leading communist group, the Communist Party of the Philippines - New People's Army. This was grounded on the assumption that poverty was the primary reason why people joined the rebel group.
The aim of this paper is to scrutinize whether or not the anti-poverty program implemented by the provincial government, in partnership with the non-government organizations and the private sector resulted not only to decreased poverty incidence but also fostered peace in the areas concerned. Three variables were used to indicate the ‘peace' concept - absence of insurgents/insurgency activities, increased resettlement, and increase in the number rebels who returned to the fold of the law.
The results of the research indicate that poverty reduction programs has decreased rebel-sightings and insurgent activities, promoted resettlement, and increased the number of rebel returnees alongside a significant decrease in the incidence of poverty. The paper argues that ‘peace' can not be attained by the usual government solution of aggressive militarization. ‘Peace' can only be attained when livelihoods of people are secured, when the rural areas become visible through active state intervention, and when communities have renewed optimism and trust on institutions and organizations that are entrusted with development.