Post-conflict justice, memory and regional integration in the EU, EAC and ECOWAS

ongoing

This project aims to develop a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence in post-conflict justice, memory and regional integration in the EU, EAC, ECOWAS. It will span Law, History and Modern Languages Departments. It will include undergraduate teaching and annual lectures with expert speakers from the EU and Africa, which will be open to the staff and student body and more widely to the North Wales community (North Wales Africa Society, Ukraine support groups, North Wales Law Society), as well as research seminar participation for postgraduate students and early career researchers and four international conferences for academic experts, EU and African diplomats and practitioners. The project will compare the approaches of the EU, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the East African Community (EAC), as supranational organisations on two different continents in addressing the most serious crimes committed within their regions. These communities have been selected for their ambitious integration efforts, their lived experience of core international crimes, and their initiatives to expand their mandates to include accountability for such crimes. In the sphere of international criminal law, core international crimes are defined as war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and aggressive war. Furthermore, acknowledging that accountability for core crimes is also enabled by non-judicial measures, the project will consider the role of memory and cultural heritage monuments in consolidating and preserving peace in communities. It will examine the interpretation of the concepts of accountability and impunity in the field of transitional justice, and explore non judicial means of advocating for and engaging with transitional justice mechanisms, considering also how the specific characteristics of different contexts influence the design of these processes. It will analyse the acceptance of survivor- and civil society-led change in atrocity situations.