D.R. Congo: A Call for Truth and Reconciliation

Justice in Democratic Republic of the Congo is mainly accessible to and protects the powerful, those who run the system, the politically connected, and the rich who influence decision making and can pay for years of trials.  The poor and powerless are prosecuted...

Women of Wajir

In the early 1990’s, six women began a process that transformed much of the Wajir district in northeast Kenya. Attempting to cope with what was described as a “disaster waiting to happen,” these women formed a community-based approach to halting the violence. Their...

‘Greetings’ in Burundian Culture

Hearing Burundians greet each other and greet us in Kirundi got me curious about finding out the meaning of these daily greeting rituals. The finding is, astonishingly, a good ground on which Burundians can build bridges of reconciliation and recovery from the hurt...

Evolving Political Situation in Burundi

This article was originally posted on January 29th, 2009 during AFJN’s trip to Burundi and Uganda. It appeared as a blog post on justicegreatlakes.blogspot.com. Reposted here April 14th, 2009. Although many Burundians feel positive about the political shift in...

Follow Bahati and Beth in Central Africa!

AFJN Staff Members Bahati Ntama Jacques and Beth Tuckey are currently in Burundi and Uganda conducting research for our project on restorative justice. They are keeping a blog, updated every couple of days, that can be read HERE. Find out what they’re doing and...

Read Rocco’s Blog from West Africa

From November 2nd through December 2nd, Africa Faith and Justice Network’s Executive Director, Rocco Puopolo, s.x. visited Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone to conduct research and interviews as part of AFJN’s Restorative Justice Book Project. Click here to...

Why Restorative Justice?

By Rocco Puopolo Why Restorative Justice? In our Western culture, there is a tendency to automatically equate justice to punishment, but is it accurate to consider this notion universal? An even bigger question is, is this kind of definition for justice ultimately...

The Process of Restorative Justice in Sierra Leone

Q&A with Emmanuel Roberts The government of Sierra Leone requested that UN Security Council establish an international tribunal to prosecute individuals responsible for committing atrocities in the country’s brutal civil war, which broke out in 1991 and remains...