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Traditional Practices

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Anonymous. Kake Circle Peacemaking

In 1999, in an effort to curb youth alcohol abuse, tribal members of the Organized Village of Kake(federally recognized Tribe of Kake, Alaska) established the Healing Heart Council and Circle Peacemaking, a reconciliation and sentencing process embedded in Tlingit traditions. Working in seamless conjunction with Alaska 's state court system, Circle Peacemaking intervenes in the pernicious cycle by which underage drinking becomes an entrenched pattern of adult alcoholism. Today, the program not only enforces underage drinking sentences in an environment where such accountability had been rare, but also restores the Tlingit culture and heals the Kake community.

Brown, Howard L. The Navajo Nation's Peacemaker Division: An Integrated, Community-based Dispute Resolution Forum

As Howard Brown writes, for hundreds of years the Navajo people have used a community-based dispute resolution ceremony to deal with conflicts. This ceremony brings together a variety of participants, with their respective wisdom, skills, and perspectives, to reach non-coercive settlements. The aim is to restore the disputants and the larger community to a state of harmony. Today the Navajo Peacemaker Division relies on this kind of customary method of dispute resolution. To explain the Peacemaker Division and its role in resolving disputes, Brown discusses two principal subjects: Navajo common or traditional law; and the Peacemaker Division and the traditional peacemaking ceremony known in Navajo as xe2x80x9chozhooji naatxe2x80x99aanii.xe2x80x9d

Gohar, Ali. Restorative Justice System and Pukhtoon Jarga

Each community of the world resolved their conflicts before the emerging of nation state system. Where victim and offender or their representative were present in the process of resolving of the conflict. Community as a secondary victim plays its own role in the transformation and reconciliation process. When state came into existence, the crime by the state was defined, as violation of the state law, and offender was held responsible to bear the punishment. State being declare itself a victim close the door for the victim and community both, to make the thing right collectively. Some of the communities of the globe preserve the right of resolving the conflict, with out much interference of the state. Jarga is one of the institutions in the Pukhtoon belt of Afghanistan and Pakistan, resolving, interpersonal, tribal, and state disputes since time immemorial. It has many similarities with the present Restorative Justice system while differ in few areas. Abstract courtesy of the Centre for Justice and Peace Development, Massey University, http://justpeace.massey.ac.nz.

Haley, John O. A Spiral of Success: Community Support Is Key to Restorative Justice in Japan

The author states that no industrial democracy has been as successful as Japan in dealing with crime. Japanese authorities have learned from experience that offender correction and restoration to the community are essential elements of an approach that has proven to be effective in correcting socially deviant behavior. What has developed is a spiral of success, with law enforcement officials, community members, criminals, and victims working interdependently to prevent crime and reintegrate offenders back into the community.

Krishnan, Loganathan. Is Restorative Justice Able To Deal With Land Grievances Of Indigenous Peoples? A Case Of Malaysia

The World Wide Fund for Nature described indigenous people as the earth's most focal stewards. There are 300 million indigenous people in the world and approximately 100,000 in Malaysia. The term 'Indigenous people' is contentious and guaranteeing their rights is a thorny issue. They live a distinctive lifestyle, a tradition, which involves a vivid history. In today's epoch, they live with a certain amount of expectation from the government of the day. Expectation is deeply embedded in their blood in relation to their rights to land matters. They have a special relationship with their land, imbued with spirituality and sacredness. It forms a footing for social, economic, cultural structure and system. They often perceive it as something irretrievably transmitted to them through birthright. But, the ultra modern humanity has been a major threat to their rights. When land is appropriated it affects their traditional subsistence, land management and medicinal practices. In some instances they were encouraged to dump their nomadic life and progress to modern life. In Malaysia, the governing legislation is the Aboriginal Peoples Act 1954. Its provisions, applicability, effect and operation would be analysed together with the current restorative justice measures as to whether the existing framework are a panacea for land grievances of the indigenous people. An analysis would be made as to type of restorative justice models that may be adopted to deal with their grievances. A study is also carried out as to the viability of international restorative justice measures or system to deal with their grievances. Nevertheless, the perplexing issue is, should restorative justice measures be looked from the eye of the indigenous people or the spectacle of the government. There must be a plea for radical changes in laws and policies protecting aboriginal people. Abstract courtesy of the Centre for Justice and Peace Development, Massey University, http://justpeace.massey.ac.nz.

Mennonite Central Committee. Making Peace in the Indigenous Way in the Philippines

In anecdotal fashion, highlighting the work of the Upland Development Institute in the Philippines, this article relates traditional Philippine processes for addressing conflicts and offenders in relation to a more Western legal system.

Nathan C. Funk. and Irani, George E. "Rituals of reconciliation: Arab-Islamic perspectives."

Many in the Middle East view conflict resolution as a Western program, and therefore as an outside, imposed practice with little regard for the indigenous (i.e., Middle Eastern) context. Irani and Funk contend that Western policymakers, in efforts to build peace in the Middle East, should engage in dialogue and peace strategies that take into account indigenous rituals and processes of reconciliation. Hence, in this paper they deal with a number of key topics: the limitations of the applicability of Western approaches to conflict resolution in non-Western contexts; traditional Arab-Islamic approaches to conflict resolution; and, in particular, Middle Eastern rituals of settlement and reconciliation. Furthermore, they draw out implications for policymakers and practitioners in promoting peace efforts.

Soares, Santina. Applying Traditional Methods to Achieve Restorative Justice In Timor-Leste

This paper will present the findings of PDF's research on Customary Dispute Resolution that has being used by our ancestors since last century and during Portugal colonialism time and 24 years of Indonesian occupation. We will show about comparison of the dispute resolution processes, people believe on customary dispute resolution process, cases resolve by customary dispute resolution, types of fines that the arbitrator imposed to restore justice, the participation of women and youth in the process and the discrimination that can happened during the process. Used traditional approach to reconcile the relationships between the conflict parties and their family. Now, we are working with a network, of Timorese Conflict Resolution Professional and the appropriate government ministry and department to implement the combined ADR model used it to rebuild traditional mechanism and form the relationship with the court system. Abstract courtesy of the Centre for Justice and Peace Development, Massey University, http://justpeace.massey.ac.nz.

Using Traditional Practices to Improve the Justice System

Indigenous justice practices and philosophies have been important in the development of restorative justice processes such as conferencing and circles. Increasingly, governments, development agencies, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are realizing the potential of such traditional practices to meet the justice needs of marginalized populations, resolve issues of court backlogs, and to enable communities to own and resolve their own conflicts. In the Philippines, such problems are being resolved by enhancing traditional systems. Based on the use of mediation and conciliation by local elected leaders, the Barangay Justice System (BJS) is the focus of an NGO effort to provide access to justice and empower communities to participate in justice reform.