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About this brief
Storytelling: Restorative Approaches to Post-2003 Iraq Peacebuilding
Brief about:
Journal Article (2022)
Written by:
This research paper posits that integrating storytelling-based practices, such as restorative justice dialogue and restorative education, within Iraq’s legal and educations systems can promote an inclusive, cross-communal public discourse and facilitate bottom-up and inclusive peacebuilding practices to counter decades-long elitist, top-down, empty reconciliation efforts.
Top-down national reconciliation initiatives overlook the significance of, and connection between, story and culture in social conflict resolution. Such initiatives also prioritize reconciliation between political parties and not between the various pockets of a pluralistic society. Given the legacies of repression in Iraq, both pre and post 2003, storytelling as an instrument of transitional justice can promote national reconciliation by engaging with and emphasizing localized, restorative peacebuilding practices that centre individual and communal grievances.
Key findings
- Iraqi stories of voices have to be at the heart of the peacebuilding process, you cannot introduce policies that are based on western ideals and values, and impose them on people in Iraq.What it means
Instead, you need to engage with what the people to learn what they want.
- For the Iraqi context, it would be best to develop a framework that includes both punitive and restorative justice.What it means
Some crimes committed in Iraq do deserve punitive measures, especially those with large-scale social damage. Dissolving the current justice system and rewriting the current understanding of justice will not work.
- While justice has a universal meaning that transcends culture, its nuances are perceived differently across cultures and across various pockets of any given society.What it means
To understand it in a particular context, one would need to examine how locals define it and what they expect of a justice process. The Saddam Hussein trial took place in Iraq because a majority of Iraqis wanted the potential of the death penalty while other venues for the trial, like the Hague, would not have allowed that kind of sentence. Iraqis also could not perceive justice for them taking place beyond their soil where Saddam's crimes against them took place.
- We cannot "copy and paste" legal frameworks from any particular country or context.
Proposed action
- We need a more flexible framework that includes both restorative and punitive measures, and one that is rooted in storytelling from the bottom-up
Other Iraqi researchers need to help refine this framework into something more specific.
- As a policymaker or practitioner, be aware of your own positionality, be mindful if you're not Iraqi, and be mindful of how your own bias influences your approach
Centre Iraqi voices and stories and everything they do.
- Iraqis need to reform the Iraqi tribunal by amending problematic laws and improving the legal framework to enable the tribunal to effectively try ISIS fighters, particularly those of Iraqi origin
- Establish truth and reconciliation commissions
These commissions can be set up in each governorate, creating safe spaces for victims to share their stories, for perpetrators to listen, and to explore opportunities for rectification and rebuilding.
- Encourage community-based restorative justice councils
Learning from other legal models, these councils can be created by each community, with peers participating in the process. They can be trained to be part of these commissions and focus on restorative efforts rather than punitive justice. But punitive justice should not be done via these methods.
- Separate punitive and restorative efforts
Not all crimes are equal, some require a tribunal, but others can be rectified through other acts. Keep punitive justice in the hands of a reformed, non-corrupt legal system, while restorative efforts can be managed by grassroots-based and horizontal approaches, such as the proposed community-based councils.
- Engage and empower the youth
With more than half of Iraq's population under the age of 25, it is essential to harness their energy and hope for change in the pursuit of justice and healing.
- There needs to be a robust system to protect whistleblowers
People will not speak up without protection.
- Iraq's penal code has not evolved since 1969
Laws must be fluid and reflect a changing society. There are antiquated laws that do not apply (arguably never did) such as the law that rapists can marry their victims and has never been ok. There's always been a want for punishment for rapists, but a political system rooted in corruption is preventing new bills from being passed.
Helpful resources
- BackgroundDesectarianization and the End of Sectarianism?This report is the culmination of a year-long comparative research project on de-sectarianization in Iraq, Lebanon, and Bahrain. It uses both a most similar and most different methodological approach to produce detailed analysis of how sectarian identities play out in times of political contestation. On one hand, Lebanon’s and Iraq’s protest movements are two case studies similar in terms of how sectarian identities’ play out in the political and social fabric of states with power-sharing political models. On the other, Bahrain offers an important comparative insight due to the ways in which the ruling Al Khalifa family have co-opted, securitised then de-politicised sectarian identities.Visit resource ↗
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Acknowledgements
Thank you to KPSRL
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Storytelling: Restorative Approaches to Post-2003 Iraq Peacebuilding
Cite this brief: Ali Al-Hassani, Ruba. 'Storytelling: Restorative Approaches to Post-2003 Iraq Peacebuilding'. Acume. https://www.acume.org/r/storytelling-restorative-approaches-to-post-2003-iraq-peacebuilding/
Brief created by: Dr Ruba Ali Al-Hassani | Year brief made:
Original research:
- Ali Al-Hassani, R., ‘Storytelling: Restorative Approaches to Post-2003 Iraq Peacebuilding’ 15(4) (pp. 510–527) https://doi.org/10.1080/17502977.2021.1955501. – https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17502977.2021.1955501?needAccess=true
Research brief:
This research paper posits that integrating storytelling-based practices, such as restorative justice dialogue and restorative education, within Iraq’s legal and educations systems can promote an inclusive, cross-communal public discourse and facilitate bottom-up and inclusive peacebuilding practices to counter decades-long elitist, top-down, empty reconciliation efforts.
Top-down national reconciliation initiatives overlook the significance of, and connection between, story and culture in social conflict resolution. Such initiatives also prioritize reconciliation between political parties and not between the various pockets of a pluralistic society. Given the legacies of repression in Iraq, both pre and post 2003, storytelling as an instrument of transitional justice can promote national reconciliation by engaging with and emphasizing localized, restorative peacebuilding practices that centre individual and communal grievances.
Findings:
Iraqi stories of voices have to be at the heart of the peacebuilding process, you cannot introduce policies that are based on western ideals and values, and impose them on people in Iraq.
Instead, you need to engage with what the people to learn what they want.
For the Iraqi context, it would be best to develop a framework that includes both punitive and restorative justice.
Some crimes committed in Iraq do deserve punitive measures, especially those with large-scale social damage. Dissolving the current justice system and rewriting the current understanding of justice will not work.
While justice has a universal meaning that transcends culture, its nuances are perceived differently across cultures and across various pockets of any given society.
To understand it in a particular context, one would need to examine how locals define it and what they expect of a justice process. The Saddam Hussein trial took place in Iraq because a majority of Iraqis wanted the potential of the death penalty while other venues for the trial, like the Hague, would not have allowed that kind of sentence. Iraqis also could not perceive justice for them taking place beyond their soil where Saddam’s crimes against them took place.
We cannot “copy and paste” legal frameworks from any particular country or context.
Advice:
We need a more flexible framework that includes both restorative and punitive measures, and one that is rooted in storytelling from the bottom-up
- Other Iraqi researchers need to help refine this framework into something more specific.
As a policymaker or practitioner, be aware of your own positionality, be mindful if you’re not Iraqi, and be mindful of how your own bias influences your approach
- Centre Iraqi voices and stories and everything they do.
Iraqis need to reform the Iraqi tribunal by amending problematic laws and improving the legal framework to enable the tribunal to effectively try ISIS fighters, particularly those of Iraqi origin
Establish truth and reconciliation commissions
- These commissions can be set up in each governorate, creating safe spaces for victims to share their stories, for perpetrators to listen, and to explore opportunities for rectification and rebuilding.
Encourage community-based restorative justice councils
- Learning from other legal models, these councils can be created by each community, with peers participating in the process. They can be trained to be part of these commissions and focus on restorative efforts rather than punitive justice. But punitive justice should not be done via these methods.
Separate punitive and restorative efforts
- Not all crimes are equal, some require a tribunal, but others can be rectified through other acts. Keep punitive justice in the hands of a reformed, non-corrupt legal system, while restorative efforts can be managed by grassroots-based and horizontal approaches, such as the proposed community-based councils.
Engage and empower the youth
- With more than half of Iraq’s population under the age of 25, it is essential to harness their energy and hope for change in the pursuit of justice and healing.
There needs to be a robust system to protect whistleblowers
- People will not speak up without protection.
Iraq’s penal code has not evolved since 1969
- Laws must be fluid and reflect a changing society. There are antiquated laws that do not apply (arguably never did) such as the law that rapists can marry their victims and has never been ok. There’s always been a want for punishment for rapists, but a political system rooted in corruption is preventing new bills from being passed.