The aid industry and justice

I’ve just come across an interview with Amaka Megwalu on the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard website. It’s not about Liberia, but Megwalu makes insights that are very relevant to Liberia.

Megwalu, a law student at Harvard, talks about the connection between the aid industry and justice in two ways: first, variation in how an international NGO compensates and delegates responsibilities to expat staff and local staff, and second, the advantages and disadvantages of having an international NGO support justice mechanisms.

Here are my favorite quotes. (I’m not sure I agree with the use of the word necessitate in the first quote. Do you?)

But even those [national staff of international NGOs] who grumble seem grateful for the opportunity to contribute in some way to the development of their communities. They are grateful for their relatively well paid jobs. They recognize that circumstances necessitate the presence of international development agencies, with all of their imperfections. As a national staff colleague said to me in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), “no self-respecting national should have droves of expatriates working in its public sector. It is humiliating in many ways, but for now it is necessary in the DRC.”

…

In Rwanda, I found that regular participation in local justice systems was significantly associated with more positive views towards justice processes and the potential for long-term reconciliation. I also found significant misgivings about the treatment of crimes committed by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), currently the ruling party. It was clear that the perception that justice efforts were one-sided and a sense of Hutu alienation from the justice process were significantly hampering efforts at justice and reconciliation.

…

Often, international justice mechanisms are better than local initiatives at recognizing faults on both sides of a conflict. However, local initiatives are much better at encouraging public participation and fostering reconciliation. Combining both mechanisms (and others where relevant) provides a powerful method of contributing towards justice and reconciliation.

I especially like the last quote. Apathy toward the Special Court for Sierra Leone trials seems to provide evidence to support her claim. The few successful outreach initatives I’ve heard of all had locals basically running things. And the fact that the Trial of Charles Taylor Blog has a Sierra Leonean trial observer could help explain how each post can get 20 or more comments from West Africans.

That the Special Court is a hybrid court (Sierra Leonean-UN) ensured that representatives from every big fighting force in the Sierra Leone war were prosecuted also supports Megwalu’s claims.