Restorative Justice and Restorative Approaches: The UN and UNESCO

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• Restorative Justice and Restorative Approaches
  The UN and UNESCO
• Presented by
• Lucio Sia

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• During the 10th United Nations Congress on the
  Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of
  Offenders, the Vienna Declaration on Crime and
  Justice Meeting the Challenges of the
  Twenty-first Century (2000) advocated the
  development of restorative justice policies,
  procedures and programmes that are respectful of
  the rights, needs and interests of victims,
  offenders, communities and all of the parties.

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• In August 2002, the UN Economic and Social
  Council adopted a resolution calling upon Member
  States implementing restorative justice
  programmes to draw on a set of Basic Principles
  on the Use of Restorative Justice Progrmmes in
  Criminal Matters.
• In 2005, the declaration of the Eleventh UN
  Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the
  Treatment of Offenders (2005) urged Member
  States, for very practical reasons, to recognize
  the importance of further developing restorative
  justice policies, procedures and programmes that
  include alternatives to prosecution.

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• UNESCOs Asia Pacific Network for International
  Education and Values Education (APNIEVE) has been
  active in RJ processes in the classroom,
  particularly in Australian Schools, through the
  Victorian Association for Restorative Justice and
  the Association of School Councils in Victoria.
• The UNESCO Office in Brasilia promotes the use of
  RJ processes for youth in Brazil.
• The UNESCO Chair and Institute of Comparative
  Human Rights in the University of Connecticut, in
  its human rights education, promotes the
  understanding of the processes and relevance of
  restorative justice.
• UNESCO's Associated Schools Project Network
  (ASPnet) supports and encourages innovative
  programmes such as restorative practice projects
  in different schools worldwide.

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• The UN Handbook on Restorative Justice
  Programmes1
• mentions some features of RJ programmes
• A flexible and variable approach which can be
  adapted to the circumstances, legal tradition,
  principles and underlying philosophies of
  established national criminal justice systems
• A response to crime which is particularly
  suitable for situations where juvenile offenders
  are involved and in which an important objective
  of the intervention is to teach the offenders
  some new values and skills
• A response that recognizes the role of the
  community as a prime site of preventing and
  responding to crime and social disorder.
• 1 Handbook on Restorative Justice Programmes
  Criminal Justice Handbook Series, UN, New York,
  2006

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• The Handbook also delineates underlying
  assumptions of
• restorative justice programmes
• That the response to crime should repair as much
  as possible the harm suffered by the victim
• That offenders should be brought to understand
  that their behavior is not acceptable and that it
  had some real consequences for the victim and
  community
• That offenders can and should accept
  responsibility for their action
• That victims should have an opportunity to
  express their needs and to participate in
  determining the best way for the offender to make
  reparation
• That the community has a responsibility to
  contribute to this process.

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Many terms to describe RJ movement

• Communitarian justice
• Making amends
• Positive justice
• Relational justice
• Reparative justice
• Restorative justice

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Key features of RJ

• Focuses not only on the offender and the offence
• Also focuses on
• Peacemaking
• Dispute resolution
• Rebuilding relationships
• Supporting the victim, the offender and interests
  of community
• Helpful for
• Identifying causes of crime
• Developing crime prevention strategies

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Conceptions of RJ

• Encounter
• Reparative
• Transformative

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Questions raised about RJ

• Is there a role for punishment in restorative
  justice?
• Are victim support services and offender
  reintegration programmes restorative justice?
• What happens if a victim or offender is not
  willing or able to participate in a restorative
  process?
• Can there be restorative justice in an unjust
  world?

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Restorative Approaches and Restorative Justice
Across Cultures

• Australia and Canada indigenous informal
  participation in sentencing procedures. Many of
  them are informal. Sentencing circles (Canada)
• Eastern Nigeria and many parts of West Africa
  the age grade systems encourage reconciliation
  within communities through peer group
  interventions.
• In Uganda, the local council courts have the
  power to grant remedies such as compensation,
  restitution, reconciliation or apology, as well
  as more coercive measures.
• In the Philippines, the Barangay justice system
  consists of a locally elected Barangay captain
  and a peacekeeping committee hearing cases
  involving conflicts between residents. There is a
  mediation session that is facilitated by the
  captain or another member of the committee.
  Agreements reached through this process are
  legally binding and are recognized by the courts.

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• In the Czech Republic, the Probation and
  Mediation Service is involved in pre-trial and
  court proceedings in an attempt to mediate
  effective and pro-social resolutions to
  crime-related conflicts
• New Zealand A Community and family group
  conferencing. This model is now also widely used
  in modified form as a police initiated diversion
  approach in South Australia, South Africa,
  Ireland, Lesotho, as well as in U.S. cities in
  Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Montana.
• Zwelethemba (South Africa). Peacemaking
  committees

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Restorative practices in schools

• Restorative approaches include peer mediation,
  circles
• (peacemaking circles) and community conferencing.
  
• In Canada, the Society for Safe and Caring
  Schools and Communities (SSCSC) has special
  programmes and projects.
• In Brazil, there are a number of youth-centered
  mediation and conferencing projects throughout
  that incorporate the philosophy and principles of
  restorative justice. The UNESCO office in
  Brasilia is collaborating actively on restorative
  justice programmes in the country, for instance,
  the Youth Justice System in Porto Alegre
• In England and Wales, Youth Offenders Panels
  operate.

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Building on customary justice practices

• In the Democratic Republic of Congo, due to the
  absence of courts, most people consult their
  chiefs and elders for settlements of disputes
  including serious criminal matters.
• In Bangladesh, a traditional dispute resolution
  mechanism at the village level (salish) involving
  village headmen or elders, actively engage the
  offender and the victim in settling the dispute,
  with the goal of reaching a mutually agreed
  solution.