Transitional Justice and Socio-Economic Harm: Land Grabbing in Afghanistan

Description

Maintaining the importance of socio-economic issues in devising transitional justice mechanisms, this book examines the widespread practice of land grabbing in Afghanistan. On 3rd September 2003, one hundred armed police officers bulldozed around thirty homes in the Sherpur neighborhood of Kabul, Afghanistan, evicting over 250 people. Historically, the land was part of the property of the Ministry of Defense, of which a zone was allocated to the ministry’s employees who had built homes and had lived there for nearly 30 years. After the demolition, however, the land was distributed among 300 high-ranking government officials, including ministers, deputy ministers, governors, and other powerful warlords. Land grabbing in Afghanistan has become a widespread practice across the country. Based on over 50 semi-structured interviews with key informants and group discussions with war victims and local experts, this book examines the relevance of transitional justice mechanism in response to this situation. Following a critical criminological concern with social harm, this book maintains that it is not enough to consider a country’s political history of violent conflict and the violation of civil and political rights alone. Rather, to decide on appropriate transitional justice mechanisms, it is crucial to consider a country’s socio-economic background, and above all the socio-economic harm inflicted on people during periods of violent conflict. This original and detailed account of the socio-economic challenges faced by transitional justice mechanisms will be of interest to those studying and working in this area in law, politics and development studies. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Preface and acknowledgments Introduction: Setting the scene A land-grabbing case in the Sherpur neighborhood of Kabul Relevance of Sherpur for the current study Sherpur and beyond Research aim Introduction to the conceptual framework Critical criminology Transitional justice Introduction to the empirical component Methodology Desk research Fieldwork Data analysis Ethical considerations Research limitations and challenges Security Data saturation Validity and reliability Researcher’s positionality Emotional challenges of the data analysis Book structure References Chapter 1 Socio-economic harm in violent conflicts, transitional justice and critical criminology Socio-economic harm in times of violent conflicts Socio-economic harm, transitional justice and criminology Transitional justice and socio-economic harm Transitional justice and development Transitional justice and structural inequality: A move towards transformative justice Critical criminology and a harm-based approach to crime Critical criminology An understanding of crime Harm-based approach to crime State crime Approaches to state crime State crimes as serious human rights violations Approaches to economic crime in criminology Conclusion References Chapter 2 Housing, Land and Property (HLP) loss in violent conflict The right to adequate housing in the human rights regime HLP rights violation in violent conflicts and peace settlements Land grabbing and transitional justice Land dispute, urbanization and criminology Conclusion References Chapter 3 Violent conflict, socio-economic harm and transitional justice in Afghanistan Conflict background The Bonn Agreement Transitional justice in Afghanistan “A Call for Justice” The Action Plan for Peace, Reconciliation and Justice Bottom-up approach to transitional justice The impact of violent conflict on the socio-economic fabric of the Afghan society Market economy and liberal peacebuilding in Afghanistan Conclusion References Chapter 4 Housing, Land and Property rights in Afghanistan Background and legal framework for HLP rights in Afghanistan HLP rights, women and the marginalized population Land titling and registration Land dispute mechanisms in Afghanistan Conflict impact on HLP rights in Afghanistan The returnee IDPs’ perception on HLP harm The returnees’ perception on HLP harm Perceptions of victims of land grabbing Conclusion References Chapter 5 Land grabbing in Afghanistan General background and definition of land grabbing in Afghanistan Definition of land grabbing in Afghanistan Land grabbing in the Afghan law Tackling land grabbing in practice The Strategic Plan to combat land grabbing Other measures by the government to tackle land grabbing Conclusion References Chapter 6 Land grabbing in Afghanistan, economic-state crime and transitional justice Land grabbing as economic crime The actor The motive behind the act The contextual factors and means employed The consequences and harm Land grabbing as state crime State crimes of commission State crimes of negligence State crime by omission Land grabbing as economic-state crime Transitional justice and land grabbing Land grabbing and impunity Land grabbing and property restitution/provision to the IDPs and returnees Land grabbing as serious human rights violations Quality (the degree of gravity) Quantity (level of frequency) Conclusion References Chapter 7 Transitional justice and criminology: Bridging the gap Through the prism of crime The gap between criminology and transitional justice Towards bridging the gap by combining fieldwork and an interdisciplinary approach Crime as injury and social harm State crime victims Through the methodological prism Conclusion References Conclusion Main argument and research contribution Recommendations Recommendations for future research References Appendix A: Questionnaire Appendix B: List of interviews Index