Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 05/2011

Analyzing Post-Conflict Justice and Islamic Law

Scott Worden, Shani Ross, Whitney Parker, Sahar Azar

March 2011

United States Institute of Peace

Abstract

Post-conflict justice mechanisms such as truth commissions, war crimes tribunals and reparations programs have emerged as a fundamental building block of durable peace settlements in Latin America, Africa and Asia. They are relatively rare, however, in Muslim countries recovering from conflict-despite the fact that social and criminal justice is a fundamental principle of Islamic law.