The Project on Justice in Times of Transition  brings together individuals from a broad spectrum of countries to share experiences in ending conflict, building civil society and fostering peaceful coexistence.  It currently operates in affiliation with the Foundation for a Civil Society in New York and the Institute for Global Leadership at Tufts University.  Since its creation in 1992 by co-chairs Wendy Luers and Timothy Phillips, the Project has conducted over 50 programs for a variety of leaders throughout the world and has utilized its methodology to assist them in addressing such difficult issues as the demobilization of combatants, the status of security files, police reform, developing effective negotiating skills, political demonstrations, and preserving or constructing the tenets of democracy in a heterogeneous society. Through its innovative programming, the Project has exposed a broad cross-section of communities in transition to comparable situations elsewhere, and has contributed to the broadening of international public discourse on transitional processes. 

In recent years the Project has conducted programs that have helped practitioners and political leaders strategize solutions in a variety of countries and regions, including Afghanistan, Colombia, East Timor, Guatemala, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, Palestine and Peru.

CURRENT PROGRAMS

The Project’s current work is focused on:

Central America:  The majority of the Project’s work in Central America (mainly in El Salvador and Nicaragua) dates back to the early 1990s when the region was rebuilding in the aftermath of war.  In the past few years, the Project has begun to re-devote it attention to Central America as many challenges, especially in relation to judicial reform, urban violence and socioeconomic development remain. 

The Project began its refocus on Central America in the spring of 2006 when it held a major conference in partnership with Tufts University, the Toledo International Center for Peace and the University of Peace in Costa Rica.  The event, entitled "Lessons Learned on Regional Peace-building: The Central American Peace Process," brought together over 40 protagonists of the peace processes in Central America to share the lessons-learned from their experiences in peace-building and discuss the challenges that still remain for the region.  Since then the Project had a role in helping to organize "La Nicaragua Posible: Strategies for the Future," held in October 2006 in Managua, which focused on developing recommendations in the area of governance for the future of Nicaragua.  More recently we have been working with FRIDE and DARA in Spain to develop a program that will bring together youth leaders from seven Central American countries to meet bi-annually for two years to build skills, network and create feasible action plans to promote greater regional youth empowerment and civic engagement. The main goals of this effort are to help youth to play a role in shaping regional policy options, especially in relation to climate change and humanitarian relief.

Please see click here for current initiative!  Guatemala 28 May-June1 

Colombia:  The Project has been working in Colombia in partnership with the Center for International Conflict Resolution at Columbia University since the fall of 2006.  Its efforts there are focused on  helping the Colombian ELN (Ejército Liberación Nacional or ELN) gain comparative perspectives on ceasefire arrangements, demobilization and verification processes and entry into the political system; all issues that are at the very core of current negotiations between the ELN and the Colombian government. Thus far the Project and CICR have held three workshops in Bogota and Medellin related to the effort..  The first in November of 2006, brought former combatants who are now political and community leaders in Northern Ireland to Colombia to share experiences relating to ceasefire arrangements and managing the integration of former paramilitary leaders into the political process. The second and third took place in August 2007 and brought the Philippine peace commissioner and two significant leaders from Northern Ireland who had a role in decommissioning processes to help share lessons learned on verification issues.  That event helped to restart a stalled dialogue between the Colombian government and the ELN on this issue. Both PJTT and CICR remain committed to keeping the dialogue going and will be providing on-going assistance to these negotiations in 2007 and 2008.

Kosovo:  The Project on Justice in Times of Transition has been engaged in Kosovo since 2003, when it received a request from Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi to help prepare representatives of the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government (PISG) for negotiations with Serbia and the United Nations over the region’s future status.  In response, the Project convened two significant meetings, in December 2003 (attended by all five senior Albanian leaders and representatives of the other communities) and December 2004 (attended by senior representatives of the Serb community in Kosovo), that were designed to help senior representatives of the PISG develop consensus on issues relating to the negotiations and future power-sharing arrangements.  In late 2005, the Project held a series of town meetings designed to help municipal leaders and local civil society representatives understand the role that local government can play in improving relations between the communities in Kosovo and in meeting the standards laid out by the international community as a requirement for independence.

More recently the Project has been involved in partnership with the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the East West Management Institute an on-going effort to help the leadership prepare for the post-independence period in Kosovo. This effort was launched in April of 2007 through a major meeting entitled Ready to Govern:  Strategies for Kosovo's First 120 Days held at Pocantico, New York.  The event engaged the senior leadership in a dialogue with senior US and international decision makers about how to prepare for  implementation of the Ahtisaari Proposal.  A number of follow-up efforts are currently under way designed to help leaders in Kosovo develop improved communication capacity, engage the public in Constitutional processes, and develop a homegrown donor strategy.

United Nations Peace-building:  Between 2001 and 2003 the Project carried out a two-year initiative in collaboration with the United Nations Association-USA and the UN ECPS Task Force assessing past United Nations peace-building and rule of law efforts. Over 100 recommendations were formulated by participants of the program and these were widely disseminated to relevant UN decision-makers and member states. 

In follow-up to this effort the Project has been asked by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations at the UN to develop a roster of experienced legal and non-legal practitioners and experts that can quickly and flexibly be engaged to provide assistance to a variety of UN departments’ and peace-building missions.  As part of that effort the Project is also involved in facilitating meetings that engender creative thinking about human resource management and outreach by the UN in relation to peacekeeping and peacebuilding. The first of these meetings, held in October 2007 in partnership with the International Crisis Group, DLA Piper LL and the German Mission to the UN, engendered a series of practical and significant recommendations on how to improve the  future civilian staffing and hiring processes.