Post Date: April 11, 2005
“When I say that we should be willing to compromise on our ideal notions of justice to produce social peace in the wake of trauma, I don’t expect people to agree with me on this point necessarily,” Feldman said. “But I do think the lesson might be a better one to learn the easy way than the hard way. And the hard way to learn it would be if systems of justice are adopted that don’t have broad social buy in.”
Feldman argued that local leaders, legal experts, nongovernmental organizations and international observers must come together for negotiations in order to develop a legal system that will be workable on the local level. The creation of such a system can play an essential role in re-establishing justice after the months of conflict.
The lecture was the last in a five-part series, International Justice?, sponsored by Seevak Facing History Fund at Harvard Law School. A webcast of Feldman’s presentation is now available in two parts: Part One | Part Two (RealPlayer required).