PublicationsResearchTorture and State ViolenceTorture and Corruption: Violent Exchanges in Marginalized South African CommunitiesThis chapter examines the link between corrupt activities and the threat of ill-treatment or torture. It looks at how law enforcement uses force or threats thereof to extort money and services from vulnerable groups and what effects this has. This chapter was published in "Corruption and Torture: Violent Exchange and the Policing of the Urban Poor," edited by Steffen Jensen… Read More Malose Langa and Hugo van der MerweOctober 2, 2017
PublicationsResearchSocial Cohesion, Violence PreventionFacilitating or Hindering Social Cohesion? The Impact of the Community Work Programme in Selected South African TownshipsThis article discusses the effects of a public employment initiative known as the Community Work Program (CWP) on social cohesion in South Africa. The article is based on research that investigated the impact of the CWP on violence prevention in six communities across three provinces: Ivory Park, Orange Farm and Kagiso (all of which are in Gauteng), Bokfontein (in the… Read More Malose Langa, Themba Masuku, David Bruce and Hugo van der MerweApril 14, 2016
PublicationsResearchTransitional JusticeTransitional Justice in Post-Conflict Societies: Conceptual Foundations and DebatesPart of a publication that outlines transitional justice in the context of the current Bangsamoro peace process in the Philippines, this chapter provides a brief overview of the conceptual evolution of transitional justice. It then discusses challenges likely to be met in post-conflict transitional settings - namely, multiple armed groups, legal pluralism, ethnic and religious tensions, socioeconomic marginalization, and gender… Read More Jasmina Brankovic and Hugo van der MerweJuly 1, 2014
PublicationsResearchTransitional JusticeTransitional Justice and Human RightsPresenting a brief, political history of transitional justice, this chapter shows the ways in which transitional justice is caught between international human rights' normative claims and local norms and constraints regarding delivering justice. The chapter was published in the SAGE Handbook of Human Rights, a two-volume set that analyses human rights issues of both contemporary and future importance. Read More Jasmina Brankovic and Hugo van der MerweJune 30, 2014
PublicationsResearchEx-combatant Reintegration and DemilitarisationStruggles in Peacetime: Working With Ex-combatants in Mozambique – Their Work, Their Frustrations and SuccessesThe subsequent piece is based on interviews with more than 40 former combatants in Mozambique and a number of other relevant actors, it seeks to begin answering some of the questions that hardly ever get asked: what do the lives of ex-combatants really look like? How are they coping in post-war society? What roles do they envisage for themselves in… Read More Bram Posthumus, Salomao Mungoi, Hugo van der Merwe and Richard SmithDecember 1, 2006
PublicationsResearchCorrectional Services, Criminal Justice, Transitional Justice, Truth and Reconciliation CommissionSeeking Reconciliation and Reintegration: Assessment of a Pilot Restorative Justice Mediation ProjectWith the aim of addressing the Post-Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) need for both participants and TRC officials to engage in personal and community dialogues in order to bring about real reconciliation, CSVR designed a pilot restorative justice programme to facilitate dialogue between ex-combatants, survivors and their communities. The project drew from restorative justice programmes developed for criminal cases, but… Read More Clara Ramírez Barat and Hugo van der MerweFebruary 1, 2005
