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Zimbabwe’s conflicts are embedded in the fight for resources
The NPRC’s lifespan (10 - year count) remains unclear. The government is yet to
determine the period in which the Commission starts counting its lifespan. Should the 10 year life span be from the time the Commission was sworn in (2013 – 2023) or from 2018 –
2028.
There is need for shadow policies and commissions to mirror government appointed
Commissions.
There is need to include victims in both the process and content of TJ policies
development
The relationship between perpetrators and victims today is that of enemies with
intergenerational hate.
Second Session
Panel Discussion: From Policy to Practice –Introducing the Dealing with the Past
Framework and the African Union Model Policy (Annah Moyo CSVR, Kloat Aleer –African Union
Commission Department pf Political Affairs and Jackson Odong – Makerere Law Centre)
To borrow lessons from regional and international experiences relating to transitional justice policy
development and implementation, there was a panel discussion focusing on the African Union TJ
policy. The AU transitional justice policy is a non-binding continental mechanism guiding AU
members states emerging from violent conflicts and dealing with addressing past legacies of violence.
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Ms Moyo highlighted that in developing the AU transitional justice policy, five observable
crucial components included; enough involvement of members states and citizens,
developing collective ownership, drafting the policy in the language understood by target
audiences, publicizing the draft policies as much as possible and ensuring that connections
and networks developed during the drafting process are utilised when implementing the
policy. The presenter shared that there is need to talk about implementation of the policy
from the beginning and ensuring constant popularisation of the draft policies to legislators
and other different stakeholders
Another presenter, Kloat Aleer also noted that the AU transitional justice policy seeks to address
governance deficits and developmental challenges with a view to advancing the goals of Agenda
2063, the Africa we Want.
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There are countries such as Mali and South Sudan that are already using the AU transitional
justice policy to shape their own national processes which Zimbabwe could also draw
lessons from
The AU policy on TJ also takes into consideration traditional mechanisms and the
involvement of non-state actors
There is need to include monitoring and resource mobilisation mechanisms in the policy
document to avoid operational challenges.
The AU policy also provides different mechanisms for transitional justice which member
states can contextualise to suit their own needs.
There are themes that are cross cutting such as gender and women.
Knowledge management and advocacy form key components of the AU policy.
Monitoring and Evaluation is a strong feature of the policy.
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