Rule of Law for Whom: Strengthening the Rule of Law as a Solution to Sexual Violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
This article suggests that programs designed to strengthen the rule of law in general are unlikely to be effective against the widespread problem of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I argue that while weak rule of law perpetuates sexual violence, only rule of law programs designed specifically with respect to the needs, risks, and cultural norms pertaining to Congolese women can help curb this problem. The article begins with a brief history of conflict in the Great Lakes region of Africa to provide context for a discussion of the scope of sexual violence in the eastern provinces of the DR Congo. It then introduces the notion of "rule of law" before evaluating the ways in which weak rule of law in the eastern DR Congo contributes to the problem of sexual violence. Finally, the article makes four arguments to support the central claim that strengthening the rule of law will be effective against sexual violence only if specifically tailored in the ways noted above. INTRODUCTION 140 I.A BRIEF HISTORY OF CONFLICT IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION 141 II.THE CRISIS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE 145 A. Scope of the Crisis 145 B. Socio-cultural Implications of Sexual Violence ........ ........ 147 J.D. Candidate, 2011 University of California, Berkeley School of Law; M.T.S., Harvard Divinity School; A.B., University of Missouri. I would like to thank Professor Kate Jastram for valuable guidance and consistent encouragement on this project. My colleagues in the Global Migration Seminar at Berkeley were excellent discussion partners and offered helpful feedback. Kerry Gough, Elizabeth Hawkins Lincoln, Stephen Rosenbaum and Ernesto Verdeja each put a critical eye to various drafts of this paper. Finally, thanks to Alison Mollman and the excellent staff of the Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice for their keen editing. I welcome comments, questions, corrections and other correspondence about the subject of this article; I can be reached at ryanlincoln@post.harvard.edu. BERKELEY JOURNAL OF GENDER, LAW & JUSTICE 139 BERKELEY JOURNAL OF GENDER, LAW & JUSTICE III.RULE OF LAW IN THE DR CONGO. ...... 149 A. Defining the Rule of Law ...... 149 B. Rule of Law Programs in the DR Congo 151 C. Sexual Violence and the Rule of Law in the DR Congo 153 1. Government Bound by Law......... 154 2. Equality Before the Law 155 3. Law and Order 156 4. Predictable and Efficient Justice 156 5. State Violation of Human Rights 157 6. Rule of Law Institutions ........ 158 IV.CREATING A VIABLE RULE OF LAW SOLUTION 158 A. Limitations of Armed Conflict and Political Efficacy on the Rule of Law ...... 159 B. Rule of Law as Evaluative / Rule of Law as Creative .... ...... 160 C. Gender Issues and the Rule of Law 161 D. Rule of Law Must Take Norms Into Account 164 CONCLUSION 167
The Transitional Justice Gap: Exploring ‘Everyday’ Gendered Harms and Customary Justice in South Kivu, DR Congo
Feminist transitional justice (TJ) has greatly contributed to the study of justice in the ruins of war, notably around prosecuting wartime rape. At the same time, scholars have observed limitations to this research agenda such as externally-driven definitions gendered harms and how to address them. This paper explores two novel areas for feminist TJ research: ‘everyday gendered harms’ and customary justice. Based on a three month field study of baraza, a customary justice mechanism in parts of South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, I explore three cases of ‘everyday’ harms against women: domestic violence, polygynous relationships and witchcraft. Through a substantive examination of these baraza cases, I highlight how studying the contextualised functioning of customary justice mechanisms provides new insights into different areas of feminist TJ scholarship, including women’s participation in the transition, justice for harms against women, and advancing gender equality. Additionally, this paper adds to the broader TJ literature by engaging with local TJ needs as they pertain to people’s everyday life in transition.
Social Meaning and Social Norms
The virtue of economics is its economy. Its sparse ontology. Its simplicity. With a few blocks, it aims to build the world. And with a few blocks, it has built much. Becker-ized or Posner-ized, economics has given insight into the full range of human life, with very few conceptual tools. There have been critics: those who complain that too much is missed; that the reduction is not without loss; that what is essential has been lost. But in large measure, these complaints miss the mark. One does not mind pocket-sized maps, so long as they guide reasonably well. Sometimes they do not. Sometimes this sparseness and simplicity make one miss something important. New blocks are then needed. Some see these gaps as pathology-evincing a rotten core in economics's foundations. But economics does not need a foundation; we need not worry whether we can describe its core. When Russell pointed out the flaw in Frege's derivation of the foundations to mathematics, the math curriculum in elementary schools did not change much. Arithmetic goes on perfectly well without foundations. Economics can as well.' Gaps do invite something more, however, and this push suggests two kinds of supplement. One is the supplement of Posner: small additions to the core ontology, deployed to pragmatic ends.2 The other is the supplements of Elster or Hardin: large additions to this core ontology; whole new classes of stuff; social norms, for example, that supplement talk of individual preferences as a way to understand behavior that does not quite fit talk limited to individual