ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses competing assumptions of transitional justice in northern Uganda. The application of the principles of the international rule of law in response to the conflict situation in northern Uganda was based on the assumption that transition from conflict marked by gross human rights violations to peace and stability requires the application of universal legal and moral norms. The Preamble to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the International Criminal Court, links criminal justice to the realisation of ‘peace, security and well-being of the world’. The approach to transitional justice that advocates non–prosecution and focusing on the restoration of social order is what scholars and practitioners have referred to as ‘restorative justice’. Peace is seen as being opposed to justice. The analysis reveals that as long as justice in transitional situations is reduced to prosecution and amnesty processes, peace and justice will remain in opposition to each other, thereby revealing a complex nature of transitional justice.
