tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/amnesty-36586/articlesAmnesty – The Conversation2023-07-02T09:17:26Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2077692023-07-02T09:17:26Z2023-07-02T09:17:26ZZondo at Your Fingertips: new book offers an accessible and condensed version of South Africa’s ambitious corruption inquiry<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534104/original/file-20230626-25-j2fluj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Ramaphosa, right, receives the final report of the State Capture Commission from Judge Zondo in 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">GCIS</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Anti-corruption activist <a href="https://shadowworldinvestigations.org/team_member/paul-holden/">Paul Holden</a> has done South Africa a great favour by summarising the work of the judicial commission that probed massive corruption under former president Jacob Zuma. No one except academics will read the commission’s 4,750 page report, but many will read Holden’s book, <a href="https://jacana.co.za/product/zondo-at-your-fingertips/">Zondo at your Fingertips</a>.</p>
<p>Holden is a former director of investigations at <a href="https://www.corruptionwatch.org.za/">Corruption Watch</a>, the South African corruption watchdog. He has worked with the investigative organisations <a href="https://shadowworldinvestigations.org/">Shadow World</a> and <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org.za/">Open Secrets</a> for many years. He seeks to expose how corrupt individuals, aided by auditors and banks, not only looted the state but came to control it and pervert it into a kleptocracy.</p>
<p>The author, who has also lived in the UK, tells us that the Zondo commission was globally unique:</p>
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<p>There are only a handful of examples of any state or quasi-judicial inquiry being given the task and resources to delve so deeply into the corruption of the ruling party … something like the scale, importance and independence of the Zondo Commission could never happen in the United Kingdom. </p>
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<p>Holden has written a good and solid book, selecting and explaining the significant Zondo findings. It is useful for South Africans in getting a grasp of the commission’s report. Overall, this book is recommended for your bookshelf and every library.</p>
<p>If South Africans are lucky, the multi-volume report will be read through by prosecutors, who have the power to formulate charges and get the courts to issue warrants of arrest.</p>
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<img alt="Book cover with the words: Zondo at your fingertips" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532714/original/file-20230619-23-7kewfk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532714/original/file-20230619-23-7kewfk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532714/original/file-20230619-23-7kewfk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532714/original/file-20230619-23-7kewfk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532714/original/file-20230619-23-7kewfk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1158&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532714/original/file-20230619-23-7kewfk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532714/original/file-20230619-23-7kewfk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1158&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>But the historical odds are stacked against this. The country has had over a dozen big commissions of inquiry. Not many people landed up in jail as a consequence. </p>
<h2>How the story is told</h2>
<p>Holden starts by telling us that the commission, headed by then deputy chief justice <a href="https://www.concourt.org.za/index.php/13-current-judges/72-deputy-chief-justice-ray-zondo">Raymond Zondo</a>, heard 1,731,106 pages of documentary evidence, which it summarised in a transcript of 75,099 pages. The commission’s 19-volume report totals 4,750 pages. It heard 300 witnesses over 400 days of hearings, spread over four and a half years between 2018 and 2021. </p>
<p>Only the report of the <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/trc/">Truth and Reconciliation Commission</a>, which probed human rights abuses by both the apartheid regime and the liberation movement during the struggle for freedom in South Africa, has been comparable in <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/trc/report/">length and scope</a>. It sat from 1996 and submitted its <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Truth-and-Reconciliation-Commission-South-Africa">final report in October 2003</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-democracy-or-a-kleptocracy-how-south-africa-stacks-up-111101">A democracy or a kleptocracy? How South Africa stacks up</a>
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<p>The book is well structured in 10 parts. These include a chapter on the capture of state institutions such as the South African Revenue Service, the capture of state-owned enterprises such as South African Airways, the failures of the president, the African National Congress, and parliament, and a chapter on what money went where.</p>
<h2>Commissions of inquiry</h2>
<p>The most ambitious commission of inquiry set up in South Africa was the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Set up in 1996 after the end of apartheid, it offered amnesty in exchange for information about atrocities.</p>
<p>No one who refused to apply for amnesty, or whose amnesty application was refused by the commission, was in fact prosecuted. A quarter of a century lapsed before the families of some detainees who’d been tortured to death found pro bono lawyers who <a href="https://www.newframe.com/long-read-the-unfinished-business-of-the-trc/">instituted the reopening of inquests and other litigation</a> – with zero support from the government.</p>
<p>The great majority of the recommendations of commissions of inquiry, such as the <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/comm-mrk/docs/20150710-gg38978_gen699_3_MarikanaReport.pdf">Farlam Commission</a> into the massacre of striking miners and other killings at Marikana, North West province in 2012, remain unimplemented and ignored by the government. Sceptics argue that commissions of inquiry merely provide governments with a pretext to <a href="https://www.enca.com/opinion/parking-hot-potato-are-commissions-inquiry-ineffective">stall any remedial actions for years</a>, until the politics of the front page has moved onto other issues.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-has-a-new-chief-justice-an-introduction-to-raymond-zondo-179315">South Africa has a new Chief Justice: an introduction to Raymond Zondo</a>
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<p>Holden notes that Judge Zondo ordered the government to lay charges with the police against Dudu Myeni, former chair of South African Airways, for revealing the identity of a witness. But no arrest or prosecution has yet occurred. Likewise, the commission’s recommendations to the <a href="https://lpc.org.za/">Legal Practice Council</a>, to explore whether certain lawyers who enabled corruption should be struck off the roll, and to the auditors’ regulatory entity, to do the same with some auditors, have not yet resulted in action.</p>
<p>However, the author concludes, on the positive side, the <a href="https://www.npa.gov.za/asset-forfeiture-unit#:%7E:text=Empowered%20by%20the%20Prevention%20of,the%20private%20and%20public%20sector.">Asset Forfeiture Unit</a>, which is empowered to seize assets which are the proceeds of crime, successfully froze the Optimum coal mine to prevent it being sold on to cronies of the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-48980964">Guptas</a>, the Indian family accused of orchestrating mass corruption in South Africa. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.siu.org.za/">Special Investigating Unit</a> took up numerous cases against multinational companies to recoup state funds and got billions of rand refunded. The <a href="https://www.parliament.gov.za/news/investigative-directorate-move-npa-says-president">Investigative Directorate</a> of the <a href="https://www.npa.gov.za/">National Prosecuting Authority</a> made numerous arrests; prosecutions are pending.</p>
<h2>Recommendations</h2>
<p>Holden notes that the Zondo Commission made a number of recommendations. Key among these are to professionalise all appointments to the boards of state-owned enterprises, and prevent cabinet ministers from appointing political cronies and other unqualified or compromised persons. The same applies to <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-has-a-plan-to-make-its-public-service-professional-its-time-to-act-on-it-187706">professionalising civil service</a>, provincial, and municipal procurement officials.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whistleblowers-are-key-to-fighting-corruption-in-south-africa-it-shouldnt-be-at-their-peril-168134">Whistleblowers are key to fighting corruption in South Africa. It shouldn't be at their peril</a>
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<p>Holden also summarises the commission’s enhanced proposed protection for whistle blowers, and to grant them compensation for losses they suffered. He notes that Zondo also flagged the deployment of party loyalists to key state positions as a violation of the constitution’s section 197 (3).</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207769/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keith Gottschalk is a member of the ANC, but writes this review in his professional capacity as a political scientist.</span></em></p>The Zondo Commission was globally unique in scope and scale. The book selects and explains its key findings and recommendations.Keith Gottschalk, Political Scientist, University of the Western CapeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2003612023-03-05T14:23:59Z2023-03-05T14:23:59ZWho is Joseph Kony? The altar boy who became Africa’s most wanted man<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512165/original/file-20230224-649-j2ktnx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Joseph Kony speaks to journalists in southern Sudan in November 2006. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stuart Price/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/who-is-joseph-kony-the-altar-boy-who-became-africas-most-wanted-man-200361&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p>Eleven years ago, a documentary catapulted the name Joseph Kony onto the global stage. The <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2012/03/08/148235430/while-controversial-kony-2012-has-put-focus-on-atrocities">controversial film Kony 2012</a> told the story of a Ugandan warlord whose forces are <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2013/05/20/konys-lra-has-killed-more-than-100000-un/">believed by the United Nations</a> to be responsible for the deaths of more than 100,000 people, the abduction of at least 20,000 children and the displacement of more than two million people.</p>
<p>Though most of the world hadn’t heard of Kony before then, Ugandans knew and feared him. The founder of the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/topic/international-justice/joseph-kony-lra">Lord’s Resistance Army</a> unleashed a wave of violence across northern Uganda for two decades. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/uganda/kony">In 2005</a>, the International Criminal Court brought charges of crimes against humanity against Kony and four of his top commanders. <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-hunt-may-be-off-but-a-5-million-pledge-might-bring-kony-to-justice-13234">In 2013</a> and <a href="https://cf.usembassy.gov/united-states-announces-5-million-reward-for-joseph-kony/">2021</a>, the US announced a US$5 million bounty for information leading to Kony’s capture. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/icc-upholds-jail-term-for-ugandan-rebel-commander-ongwen-why-it-matters-for-africa-196349">ICC upholds jail term for Ugandan rebel commander Ongwen - why it matters for Africa</a>
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<p>He remains at large. </p>
<p>Now the International Criminal Court wants to <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-prosecutor-international-criminal-court-karim-aa-khan-kc-request-hold-hearing">confirm the charges</a> against Kony in his absence. The hope is that this will renew international efforts to find Africa’s most wanted fugitive. </p>
<p>So, who is Joseph Kony?</p>
<h2>His early life</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Kony">Joseph Rao Kony</a> was born in 1961 in Odek sub-county in northern Uganda. He was one of six children in the Acholi middle-class family of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wizard-Nile-Hunt-Africas-Wanted/dp/1846270316#:%7E:text=See%20more-,%22Wizard%20of%20the%20Nile%22%20or%20the%20hunt%20for%20Joseph%20Kony,and%20political%20instability%20in%20general">Luizi Obol and Nora Oting</a>. </p>
<p>Kony’s parents were farmers. His father was a Catholic, his mother an Anglican. Kony was an <a href="https://archive.org/details/innocentslostwhe0000brig">altar boy until 1976</a>. He dropped out of school at age 15 to become a traditional healer. </p>
<p>In 1987, aged 26, Kony founded the <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/the-lords-resistance-army-violence-in-the-name-of-god/a-18136620">Lord’s Resistance Army</a>, a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/heterodox#:%7E:text=%2F%CB%88h%C9%9Bt%C9%99r%C9%99%CB%8Cd%C9%91%CB%90ks%2F-,adjective,established%20beliefs%20or%20standards%20%3A%20unorthodox">heterodox</a> Christian fundamentalist organisation that operated in northern Uganda until 2006. </p>
<h2>Altar boy turned rebel leader</h2>
<p>Kony rose to prominence after taking over the <a href="https://observer.ug/news-headlines/14665-the-roots-of-war-how-alice-lakwena-gave-way-to-joseph-kony">Holy Spirit Movement</a>, a rebel group led by Alice Lakwena, his aunt, to topple the Ugandan government. </p>
<p>The Holy Spirit Movement was formed after Ugandan president <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/10/world/gen-tito-okello-ex-ugandan-leader-82.html">Tito Okello</a>, an <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Acholi">Acholi</a>, was overthrown by the National Resistance Army – led by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Yoweri--Museveni">Yoweri Museveni</a> – in January 1986. The Acholis largely occupy northern Uganda. </p>
<p>Museveni’s National Resistance Army was a rebel outfit that later metamorphosed into the <a href="https://www.updf.go.ug/">Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces</a>. Today it’s the national army. </p>
<p>When it came to power, the National Resistance Army appeared to <a href="https://www.refworld.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rwmain?page=topic&tocid=463af2212&toid=469f2f892&publisher=&type=&coi=BDI&docid=3ae6ad345c&skip=0">deliberately target</a> the Acholi population in the north. Villagers were violently attacked by army troops and subjected to food shortages. Houses were burnt down, leading to forced displacements. The scale of these attacks was never documented or substantiated.</p>
<p>Kony joined the Holy Spirit Movement to fight for the <a href="https://www.refworld.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rwmain?page=topic&tocid=463af2212&toid=469f2f892&publisher=&type=&coi=BDI&docid=3ae6ad345c&skip=0">rights of the Acholi</a>. By 1987, however, army troops had <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/19/world/africa/19lakwena.html">crushed the movement</a> – Lakwena escaped into Kenya where she died in a refugee camp in 2007.</p>
<p>Kony established the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lords-Resistance-Army">Lord’s Resistance Army</a> and proclaimed himself his people’s prophet. He soon turned against his supporters, supposedly in an effort to “purify” the Acholi and turn <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/the-deadly-cult-of-joseph-kony-1001084.html">Uganda into a theocracy</a>. </p>
<p>The rebel group carried out <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/northern-uganda-understanding-and-solving-conflict">indiscriminate killings</a>. It <a href="https://invisiblechildren.com/challenge/kony/">forcibly recruited</a> boys as soldiers and girls as sex slaves.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-one-of-2016s-best-books-a-former-lords-resistance-army-child-soldier-reveals-the-reason-behind-the-mayhem-70027">In one of 2016's best books, a former Lord's Resistance Army child soldier reveals the reason behind the mayhem</a>
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<p>Ideologically, the group espoused a mix of mysticism, Acholi nationalism and Christian fundamentalism. It claimed to be establishing a <a href="https://academic.oup.com/afraf/article-abstract/98/390/5/32908?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false">theocratic state</a> based on the biblical <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2020&version=NIV">10 commandments</a> and Acholi tradition.</p>
<p>Kony proclaimed himself the spokesperson of God. He claimed to have been visited by a multinational host of 13 spirits, including a Chinese phantom.</p>
<h2>Kony’s military offensive</h2>
<p>Kony and his rebel outfit committed a string of atrocities against civilians. The group waged war for more than two decades within Uganda – and later in the politically unstable neighbouring countries of Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Central African Republic – in an effort to topple Museveni. The actual number of militia members varied over this period, hitting a high of 3,000 soldiers in the early 2000s. </p>
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<p>After the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/September-11-attacks">11 September 2001</a> terror attacks in the US, the American government designated the Lord’s Resistance Army <a href="https://irp.fas.org/world/para/dos120601.html">a terrorist group</a>. </p>
<p>In 2005, the International Criminal Court <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/warrant-arrest-unsealed-against-five-lra-commanders">issued arrest warrants</a> for top commanders of the Lord’s Resistance Army for crimes against humanity. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2008/08/29/E8-20164/in-the-matter-of-the-designation-of-joseph-kony-as-a-specially-designated-global-terrorist-pursuant">August 2008</a>, the US declared Kony a global terrorist, a designation that carries financial and other penalties. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ugandan-rebel-joseph-kony-the-latest-us-arrest-bid-raises-questions-177578">Ugandan rebel Joseph Kony: the latest US arrest bid raises questions</a>
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<p>The Lord’s Resistance Army was eventually forced out of Uganda following the failed <a href="https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/PB-Uganda-Lord.PDF">Juba peace talks</a> of 2006-2008 between the group’s leadership and the Ugandan government. The talks were mediated by the government of southern Sudan. </p>
<p>Kony and his militia <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/jul/30/jeevanvasagar">went into hiding</a> in the DRC. <a href="https://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17456">In December 2008</a>, Uganda, DRC and Sudan launched an offensive dubbed <a href="https://www.independent.co.ug/revisiting-operation-lightning-thunder/">Operation Lightning Thunder</a> to track them down. </p>
<p>Kony’s rebel group attacked Congolese civilians suspected of supporting the operation. Villagers were raped, their limbs mutilated and <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2009-01-29-un-more-than-100-killed-in-massacre-by-ugandan-rebels/">hundreds killed</a>. The group <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/07/world/africa/07congo.html?pagewanted=all">eventually splintered</a> to evade capture, with most members escaping into the Central African Republic.</p>
<p>Uganda called off the operation in March 2009, saying the Lord’s Resistance Army was at its <a href="https://www.independent.co.ug/revisiting-operation-lightning-thunder/">weakest point ever</a>.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-25036874">November 2013</a>, Central African Republic officials reported that Kony was ready to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/kony-2013-us-quietly-intensifies-effort-to-help-african-troops-capture-infamous-warlord/2013/10/28/74db9720-3cb3-11e3-b6a9-da62c264f40e_story.html">negotiate his surrender</a>. He was reported to be in poor health in Nzoka, a town in the country’s eastern region. He never showed up.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/jan/07/surrender-aide-joseph-kony-blow-lords-resistance-army">By 2017</a>, the rebel group’s membership had shrunk to an estimated 100 soldiers. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/20/world/africa/uganda-joseph-kony-lra.html">In April</a> that year, the US and Ugandan governments ended efforts to find Kony. They stated he no longer posed a significant security risk to Uganda. But he is still wanted by the International Criminal Court. </p>
<h2>Kony today</h2>
<p>Some of the fighters from the Lord’s Resistance Army took advantage of <a href="https://www.ulrc.go.ug/system/files_force/ulrc_resources/amnesty-act.pdf?download=1">Uganda’s 2000 amnesty programme</a>, which offered blanket immunity to any rebel who had taken up arms against the government since 1986. </p>
<p>Kony’s exact location, however, remains unknown. He’s thought to be hiding in <a href="https://observer.ug/news/headlines/52475-why-updf-abandoned-hunt-for-kony-in-car.html">the vast jungles</a> of the Central African Republic or in <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/is-lra-rebel-leader-joseph-kony-hiding-in-darfur/a-61478125">Sudan</a>.</p>
<p>While attempts to bring Kony to justice continue, post-conflict northern Uganda is on the <a href="https://odi.org/en/publications/the-mental-landscape-of-post-conflict-life-in-northern-uganda/">slow path</a> to economic and social recovery.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200361/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Ugandan militant remains on the run despite a US$5 million bounty on his head for war crimes committed between 1987 and 2006.Dennis Jjuuko, Doctoral Candidate, UMass BostonTonny Raymond Kirabira, Teaching Fellow, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1866962022-07-17T09:49:11Z2022-07-17T09:49:11ZNigeria’s spiralling insecurity: five essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474082/original/file-20220714-9357-bxgmv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Florian Plaucheur/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In recent times, security – or, more accurately, the lack of it – has been one of the most prominent items on the news agenda in Nigeria. </p>
<p>Hardly a week goes by without a report of a terrorist attack or cases of kidnap for ransom being reported in the media. <a href="https://www.globalr2p.org/countries/nigeria/">Hundreds</a> of civilians and members of the security forces have been killed. </p>
<p>The incidents have been labelled in various different ways. From terrorist attacks – such as the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/pidgin/articles/c10n9lqe8dyo">attack</a> on Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s convoy in July and the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-60980904">hijacking</a> of an entire train in March – to targeted ambushes. There have also been multiple attacks on <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/08/nigeria-at-least-115-people-killed-by-security-forces-in-four-months-in-countrys-southeast/">government facilities</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/61719973">churches</a> over the past year. </p>
<p>But, whatever name they go by, the terrorists appear to be running free across the Nigerian landscape. </p>
<p>At The Conversation Africa, we have been working with academic experts to try to make sense of what is happening in Nigeria. Here are five essential reads that we’ve published on the country’s state of insecurity: </p>
<h2>Where it all started</h2>
<p>Banditry started as an isolated rural phenomenon in the late 2000s, notes political scientist Al Chukwuma Okoli, a senior lecturer and consultant-researcher at Federal University Lafia in Nigeria. With time, banditry grew into sophisticated violent criminality, characterised by syndicates with immense reach across regions and countries in the Sahel.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/toxic-mix-of-bandits-arms-drugs-and-terrorism-is-alarming-nigerians-what-now-181205">Toxic mix of bandits, arms, drugs and terrorism is alarming Nigerians: what now?</a>
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<h2>They are not unknown</h2>
<p>At some point in the evolution of the violent gangs ravaging Nigeria, bandits and terrorists started being called “unknown gunmen”. The label was wrong and misleading, writes Sallek Yaks Musa, a lecturer in criminology and security studies at the University of Jos in Nigeria. The atrocities and motivation of bandits had assumed insurgent-type criminality and the Nigerian government’s reluctance to call them terrorists or insurgents was unhealthy. Eventually, a court order forced the government’s hand and the terrorist label got stickier. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nigerias-bandits-are-not-unknown-gunmen-why-the-label-matters-166997">Nigeria's 'bandits' are not 'unknown gunmen': why the label matters</a>
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<h2>Who is at risk?</h2>
<p>Nigeria now ranks among the kidnapping hotspots of the world. This practice has evolved among the bandits and terrorists of northern Nigeria, militants and cultists in the Niger Delta, as well as the ritual killers of the western and eastern parts of the country. Al Chukwuma Okoli explores the nature of the kidnapping threat, factors accounting for its upswing and who is at risk of being kidnapped in Nigeria. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whos-at-risk-of-being-kidnapped-in-nigeria-184217">Who's at risk of being kidnapped in Nigeria?</a>
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<h2>Why government strategies have failed</h2>
<p>Explaining why government efforts had failed to rein in the terrorists, Sallek Yaks Musa says the country first needs to tackle hunger, poverty and unemployment. He takes a critical look at five strategies to end banditry that the Nigerian government has tried – without success. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/nigerias-banditry-why-5-government-strategies-have-failed-181208">Nigeria's banditry: why 5 government strategies have failed</a>
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<h2>Reintegration as a failed strategy</h2>
<p>One of the strategies used by the Nigerian government to stem the tide of terrorism, especially from Boko Haram elements, is the idea of reintegrating repentant former combatants into society. This idea borrowed from the general amnesty deal the government has with Niger Delta militants. The idea appeared to have worked in the Niger Delta region but was not so successful with Boko Haram and bandits. Tarela Juliet Ike, a lecturer in criminology and policing at Teesside University in the UK, looks at the weaknesses of the Boko Haram reintegration process and suggests how they could be fixed. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nigerias-boko-haram-reintegration-process-weaknesses-and-how-they-can-be-fixed-174728">Nigeria's Boko Haram reintegration process: weaknesses and how they can be fixed</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186696/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Scholars explain how and why terrorists appear to be running rampant across Nigeria.Adejuwon Soyinka, Regional Editor West AfricaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1646582021-07-20T12:50:59Z2021-07-20T12:50:59ZTroubles amnesty: UK government plan would subvert peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland<p>The Northern Ireland assembly, in a rare show of unity, has <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/unity-northern-ireland-condemnation-uk-plans-troubles/">condemned the UK government’s plans</a> to grant an unconditional amnesty for Troubles-related crimes committed by security forces and paramilitaries in Northern Ireland.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/addressing-the-legacy-of-northern-irelands-past">sweeping proposals</a>, announced earlier this month, would see those responsible for killings, torture and serious injury being shielded from criminal investigation, civil liability, and other formal investigative processes. This would make prosecutions impossible even for the most serious crimes.</p>
<p>The plan has provoked strong – and remarkably unified – opposition both in Northern Ireland and the Republic. Even some military veterans and their campaigners, who would be protected by the proposals, <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnnyMercerUK/status/1415290154282065921?s=20">have rejected them</a>. </p>
<p>Victims and their representatives have <a href="https://wavetraumacentre.org.uk/news/the-government-may-say-their-process-is-victims-centred-but-it-is-nothing-of-the-sort/">expressed</a> hurt and anger. Many of these families have waited decades to have their cases properly investigated. They are vowing to resist the amnesty and <a href="https://www.relativesforjustice.com/fury-impunity-legislation/">strongly reject</a> the government’s claims that its plans would be in their interests.</p>
<p>The government’s plan marks a dramatic, unilateral departure from its previous commitments to implement the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-stormont-house-agreement">Stormont House Agreement of 2014</a>. That agreement, reached by the main Northern Ireland political parties and the UK and Irish governments, called for a comprehensive and human rights-compliant approach to deal with legacy offences. </p>
<p>This approach would include police-led criminal investigations of conflict-related deaths, an information recovery process that could confidentially receive and share with families information about their relatives’ deaths, an oral history archive and measures to promote reconciliation.</p>
<p>The shift towards a broad amnesty is a response to independent decisions in recent years to open criminal proceedings against <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8352/">six soldiers</a> in five cases related to killings during the Troubles. These are the first cases against security force personnel since the end of the conflict in 1998. Three of them have already been <a href="https://www.ppsni.gov.uk/news-centre/prosecutions-soldier-b-and-soldier-f-be-discontinued-after-pps-review">discontinued</a>, but two remain and futher prosecutorial decisions are <a href="https://www.ppsni.gov.uk/news-centre/pps-issues-four-decisions-connection-operation-kenova-files">pending</a>. The government’s decision also reflects its marked <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2021/07/politics-lies-boris-johnson-and-erosion-rule-law">antipathy</a> to human rights and the rule of law.</p>
<p>Although the new proposals retain the commitment to information recovery, they are unlikely to provide an effective alternative to robust independent investigations. International human rights law <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jul/15/uk-plan-to-end-troubles-prosecutions-breaks-international-obligations-irish-minister">obligates the UK</a> to conduct such investigations for torture and violations of the right to life.</p>
<h2>Victims’ wishes</h2>
<p>A 2018 <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/836991/Addressing_the_Legacy_of_the_Past_-_Analysis_of_the_consultation_responses__2_.pdf">consultation by the Northern Ireland Office</a> found broad consensus among 17,000 respondents that the UK has “an obligation to seek to address the legacy of the past in a way that builds for the future”. </p>
<p>A clear majority of respondents rejected the idea of an amnesty or statute of limitations and “many were clear that victims, survivors and families are entitled to pursue criminal justice outcomes and such a move could risk progress towards reconciliation”, according to the report.</p>
<p>The decision to pursue impunity for security forces and paramilitaries is therefore most definitely not a response to the wishes of victims and people within Northern Ireland, including some of those representing former security forces. Why then are they seeking to impose this illegitimate – and most likely illegal under international law – measure?</p>
<p>The government plans use the term a “statute of limitations” rather than amnesty. This is misleading, as the amnesty would immediately and automatically end the possibility of prosecutions in cases that have not yet had a meaningful investigation.</p>
<p>The report argues that a statute of limitations is necessary as allowing legal proceedings to continue would lead to lengthy and expensive investigations with little chance of resulting in trials, which will inhibit truth recovery and reconciliation. These justifications for enacting amnesty are dubious, to say the least.</p>
<p>Legal proceedings relating to serious violations committed decades ago are of course a complex undertaking. But the government has <a href="https://caj.org.uk/2015/01/19/apparatus-impunity-human-rights-violations-northern-ireland-conflict">consistently delayed and limited</a> these processes by withholding information from investigators, litigants and their lawyers, and denying sufficient resources to prosecutors and coroners.</p>
<p>This government has also <a href="https://twitter.com/governmentalite/status/1415334139541311490?s=20">locked</a> for a further 45 years – on “national security” grounds – public record files into the deaths of two children as a result of plastic bullets fired by security forces. Against this historical reality, it is very difficult to trust the government’s stated commitment to the facilitation of information recovery.</p>
<p>While victims and civil society groups widely accept that few criminal investigations are likely to result in sentencing, they have called for the possibility of criminal justice to remain open. They believe that investigations with full police powers are the best means of obtaining information. In addition, previous information recovery processes in Northern Ireland, such as the <a href="http://www.iclvr.ie/en/iclvr/pages/thedisappeared">Disappeared Commission</a>, have shown that concurrent criminal investigations do not prevent information being disclosed.</p>
<h2>Learning from abroad</h2>
<p>The government compares its proposals favourably to the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was empowered to grant amnesty in exchange for truth-telling. </p>
<p>But the plan’s portrayal of the <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1375046">South African model</a> fails to mention that keeping the possibility of criminal prosecutions open was vitally important in pressuring perpetrators to cooperate, and imposing penalties on those who did not. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3341311">comparing amnesties around the world</a>, I have found that democratic governments only grant broad, unconditional amnesty for perpetrators of serious crimes where there is a very real and immediate risk of democratic collapse. For example, in post-Franco Spain where there was a looming threat that prosecutions could provoke a military coup, amnesties were used to protect peace and democracy.</p>
<p>In the UK, investigations and prosecutions for Troubles-related offences would not imperil democracy but could have the opposite effect. These routes to justice and accountability are an essential feature of the rule of law in the UK. The government’s proposed impunity plans would potentially subvert, rather than protect, peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland. </p>
<p>Given the widespread opposition to the proposals from affected groups, the sweeping amnesty proposed by the UK government would have more in common with the widely condemned <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-and-comparative-law-quarterly/article/abs/end-of-amnesty-or-regional-overreach-interpreting-the-erosion-of-south-americas-amnesty-laws/C4DE9DFF291D60961F99F1521F71FAB8">amnesties used by dictators</a> such as Augusto Pinochet in Chile and Reynaldo Bignone in Argentina. Rather than closing the door on the past, it could open the door to further litigation, uncertainty and suffering for victims.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164658/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louise Mallinder has previously received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council for research on dealing with the past in Northern Ireland. She is the Vice-Chair of the Committee on the Administration of Justice, a human rights organisation in Northern Ireland and she works with colleagues from CAJ and Queen's University Belfast on the Model Bill Team, which has researched and advocated for human rights compliant approaches to legacy issues. She is also a member of the Institute for Integrated Transitions Law and Peace Practice Group.</span></em></p>The British government’s plans to grant amnesty for Troubles-related crimes has drawn widespread opposition in Ireland.Louise Mallinder, Professor of Law, Queen's University BelfastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1482792020-10-18T08:59:10Z2020-10-18T08:59:10ZWhy an amnesty for grand corruption in South Africa is a bad idea<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/363935/original/file-20201016-23-au6zjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Thuli Madonsela, professor of law and former Public Protector of South Africa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EFE-EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa’s former Public Protector, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-south-africas-public-protector-has-set-a-high-bar-for-her-successor-63891">Thuli Madonsela</a>, provoked a political storm recently when she suggested that public servants implicated in grand corruption should be given the chance to apply for <a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2020-10-13-a-chance-to-start-with-a-clean-slate-thuli-madonsela-urges-sa-to-consider-amnesty-for-the-corrupt/">amnesty</a>.</p>
<p>Many South Africans, weary of rampant, unchecked and unaccountable corruption, could be forgiven for asking: what on earth was she thinking?</p>
<p>Madonsela won the admiration of many South Africans because of her steely resolve in the face of malfeasance and breaches of the rules of integrity in public office. Her proposal suggested she might be going soft on corruption.</p>
<p>To be effective as the Public Protector Madonsela required many attributes, as I set out in my 2013 book, <a href="https://www.loot.co.za/product/richard-calland-the-zuma-years/lwlk-1845-g5a0"><em>The Zuma Years</em></a>. These included independence of mind, a very thick skin and a certain contrarian eccentricity that rendered her far less susceptible to the numerous attempts to intimidate her as she took on then president Jacob Zuma and his state capture network.</p>
<p>Her amnesty idea displays all of these characteristics. </p>
<p>It should be taken seriously, if only to affirm the merit of a diametrically opposed position.</p>
<p>It’s an inherently bad idea.</p>
<h2>Bad timing</h2>
<p>Madonsela’s timing is especially unfortunate. It is only in very recent times that <a href="https://www.saps.gov.za/dpci/index.php">the Hawks</a>, the priority crimes investigating police unit, and other agencies of the criminal justice system appear to have recovered the institutional capacity to begin prosecuting those responsible for the deep-lying state capture project.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/opposition-parties-welcome-arrests-of-alleged-masterminds-behind-free-state-asbestos-contract-20200930">Recent developments</a> have begun to suggest that the net is finally tightening around the bigger fish that are the true architects of systematic corruption in the country.</p>
<p>This has been widely <a href="https://www.politicsweb.co.za/politics/arrest-of-corruption-suspects-welcomed--sacp">welcomed</a>. Accountability, at last.</p>
<p>Against the grain of this public view, Madonsela, <a href="https://blogs.sun.ac.za/inaugural-lectures/event/prof-thuli-madonsela/">a law professor</a>, entered the fray to suggest that instead of being tough on the perpetrators, an olive branch should be extended.</p>
<p>This is an example of the “independent-mindedness” for which Madonsela was <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-south-africas-public-protector-has-set-a-high-bar-for-her-successor-63891">rightly acclaimed</a> during her seven-year term as Public Protector from 2009-2016.</p>
<p>It is also not only contrarian, but also eccentric in that it makes so little sense. </p>
<p>To be fair to her, she tried to clarify later that she did not mean amnesty for every perpetrator, and certainly not the big fish. Her idea is targeted at those whose “status”, <a href="https://www.702.co.za/podcasts/415/the-john-perlman-show/370859/former-public-protector-prof-thuli-madonsela-calls-for-a-corruption-amnesty-for-public-servants">she says</a>, “in the food chain is quite junior”.</p>
<p>But the first of a series of fatal flaws in her idea is about where to draw the line: on what basis should one distinguish the smaller from the bigger fish?</p>
<p>Those who had played a “minor but critical” role was how she framed her idea. There is already a problem here: is it possible for something to be both “critical” to a (criminal) enterprise and yet still “minor”? </p>
<p>I think not.</p>
<h2>Half-baked idea</h2>
<p>Madonsela confirmed that amnesty should be available on a legal rather than a moral basis. Yet, in a radio <a href="https://www.702.co.za/podcasts/415/the-john-perlman-show/370859/former-public-protector-prof-thuli-madonsela-calls-for-a-corruption-amnesty-for-public-servants">interview</a> after she’d floated the idea, and drawn a lot of flak, she added to the confusion.</p>
<p>At first Madonsela spoke of people who may have “bent the rules” unwittingly, in which case, they may well have a legal defence to criminal conduct. Later, she clarified that she intended to cover individuals with “agency”, even to the extent that their palms have been “greased with money” (which, she argued, they would have to pay back in return for amnesty).</p>
<p>If the right to amnesty was indeed to be a legal entitlement, then the terms on which entitlement to amnesty applies have to be very clearly and carefully drawn. This much has been revealed in Constitutional Court decisions concerning the legal rationality of presidential amnesties or pardons in the case of <a href="http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZACC/1997/4.html">women convicts</a> and <a href="http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZACC/2010/4.html">perpetrators of apartheid era offences</a>.</p>
<p>Madonsela’s public policy rationale appears to be that without an inducement, the smaller cogs in the bigger wheels of state corruption may seek to hide and avoid prosecution when what is required is that they should come forward with information about the bigger fish.</p>
<p>Perhaps, then, an offer of amnesty – in effect, a legal right to indemnity from prosecution – deserves to be given serious consideration. This, especially if it is the case that the <a href="https://nationalgovernment.co.za/units/view/66/national-prosecuting-authority-of-south-africa-npa">National Prosecuting Authority </a> is struggling to pull together the evidence to bring strong prosecutions against the most powerful perpetrators of state capture corruption.</p>
<p>But there is no evidence that this is the situation. And, moreover, there are major downsides to be weighed in the balance. </p>
<h2>The case against amnesty</h2>
<p>First of all: deterrence. </p>
<p>The fact that amnesty has been granted in the past may encourage future corrupt actors to take the risk. The corollary is that the successful prosecution of corrupt officials is likely to discourage repetition.</p>
<p>Secondly, the arguments put forward by Madonsela would, in my view, provide grounds for mitigation in sentencing – not for amnesty. One example would be “small fish” cooperating with the investigative authority and providing evidence about the bigger fish. Another example would be if someone could show that they were bullied into bending procurement rules by a superior and more powerful individual in the system.</p>
<p>Another possible avenue – common practice in criminal justice systems around the world – is the use of a “plea bargain”. Here an accused person trades information in return for facing a less serious charge.</p>
<p>Amnesty would, in effect, deprive them of this opportunity and could thereby undermine the integrity of the whole criminal justice system.</p>
<p>The other major consideration is perception – both in the eyes of key stakeholders, such as the investment community and, secondly, the general public.</p>
<p>Investors are especially eager to see if South Africa has the capacity to hold to account those who contaminated the democratic state and so undermined fair competition by enabling a rent-seekers’ paradise. It is about the strength of the rule of law. Investors want to feel confident that this is one destination where the rule of law holds and where, because of state capture prosecutions, there is less risk of a repeat.</p>
<p>And surely, above all else, the public will feel cheated if perpetrators of state capture corruption, however “minor”, get away scot-free. This, more than anything, would encourage a lawless society, steeped in a culture of impunity rather than accountability.</p>
<h2>A dangerous path to tread</h2>
<p>Attempts to trade amnesty for information about state corruption have caused conflict as well as controversy in other countries. One notable example was in <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tunisia-politics-corruption-idUSKCN1BO218">Tunisia in 2017</a>. </p>
<p>But the biggest danger is that it simply sends the wrong message. This was aptly spelt out by esteemed South African artist William Kentridge reflecting on a previous attempt at taking the amnesty road in South Africa through the <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/trc/">Truth and Reconciliation Commission</a> process. </p>
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<p>A full confession can bring amnesty and immunity from prosecution or civil procedures for the crimes committed. Therein lies the central irony of the Commission. As people give more and more evidence of the things they have done they get closer and closer to amnesty and it gets more and more intolerable that these people should be <a href="https://www.academia.edu/907785/_Learning_From_the_Absurd_Violence_and_Comparative_History_in_William_Kentridge_s_Ubu_Tells_the_Truth_">given amnesty</a>.</p>
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<p>Admittedly, Madonsela has a different purpose in mind than the national reconciliation ambition of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission process. But, no, Advocate Madonsela, a blanket amnesty would send the wrong message at the worst possible time.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148279/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Calland is a member of the Advisory Council of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC) and a Partner in political economy consultancy, The Paternoster Group. </span></em></p>The first of a series of fatal flaws in the idea is about where to draw the line.Richard Calland, Associate Professor in Public Law, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1419682020-07-19T11:29:37Z2020-07-19T11:29:37ZThe verdict: Canada’s legalization of cannabis is a success<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347425/original/file-20200714-139854-1u22p19.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C35%2C4770%2C2156&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A British think tank says Canada's legalization of cannabis has largely been a success story. But we still have work to do.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Blinch</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A highly regarded British think tank focused on reforming drug laws thinks Canada’s legalization and regulation of cannabis <a href="https://transformdrugs.org/product/capturing-the-market/">has gone well</a>.</p>
<p>Transform <a href="https://transformdrugs.org/cannabis-legalisation-in-canada-one-year-on/">has been monitoring</a> Canadian reform efforts <a href="https://transformdrugs.org/what-do-experts-think-of-canadas-first-year-of-legalising-cannabis-part-1/">for some time</a>, and <a href="https://transformdrugs.org/canada-legalises-cannabis-what-you-need-to-know/">advised the Canadian government and some provinces</a> on how to develop regulations prior to legalization. Its positive views of Canada’s initiatives is a significant contribution in assessing our journey away from criminalization of simple possession and use of recreational drugs.</p>
<p>There have been a number of efforts at assessing our first year of legalization and beyond. Not all of them have been as positive as Transform’s evaluations. </p>
<p>The think tank’s accounting is sophisticated but also provides a primer of Canada’s experiences with legal cannabis, the provision of which was deemed an <a href="https://business.financialpost.com/cannabis/cannabis-business/cannabis-delivery-ontario-emergency-order">essential service</a> in Ontario during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. </p>
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<img alt="A woman with green nail polish smokes a joint rolled with a paper that has Canadian flags on it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347423/original/file-20200714-26-u8n198.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2458%2C1636&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347423/original/file-20200714-26-u8n198.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347423/original/file-20200714-26-u8n198.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347423/original/file-20200714-26-u8n198.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347423/original/file-20200714-26-u8n198.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347423/original/file-20200714-26-u8n198.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347423/original/file-20200714-26-u8n198.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Cannabis was even deemed essential in Ontario at the onset of the pandemic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov</span></span>
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<p>Transform’s assessment delves into the fundamentals — growing, processing and producing. The diverse ways the drug is sold to consumers in the provinces and territories is summarized succinctly and clearly.</p>
<p>The report also wades into contentious issues, including impaired driving, protecting youth and confronting the illicit market. Let’s look at the social justice issues implicated in the shift away from criminalization.</p>
<h2>Social equity issues</h2>
<p>As it became clear that change would happen and the necessary federal and provincial/territorial legislation would be enacted, issues affecting marginalized groups came to the fore. Transform looked at governments’ failure to adequately address them.</p>
<p>The first issue involves social equity measures. These proposed initiatives aim to compensate, to some degree, the harms suffered by members of groups because of criminalization and enforcement measures, and penalties that disproportionately affected them.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-cannabis-is-legalized-lets-remember-amnesty-103419">As cannabis is legalized, let's remember amnesty</a>
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<p>The report also points out that Indigenous communities are <a href="https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/clashes-raise-thorny-questions-how-or-if-to-regulate-first-nations-pot-shops">given the ability to refuse the sale of cannabis on reserves</a>, and says there hasn’t been enough of an effort to include Indigenous Peoples as participants in the cannabis industry as part of <a href="http://www.netnewsledger.com/2019/10/18/one-year-after-legalization-first-nations-are-still-trying-to-figure-out-the-pros-and-cons-of-health-safety-and-economic-benefits-of-cannabis/">economic improvement</a> initiatives.</p>
<p>More generally, the report documents efforts in American states where cannabis is legal to give minority groups, including Indigenous communities, opportunities to participate in the industry.</p>
<p>Whether such initiatives are the best and only way to go is debatable. Some who have been negatively impacted by discriminatory practices in the enforcement of drug laws might not want to be involved with the cannabis industry now as part of social equity measures.</p>
<p>There could be other ways to support those affected by discriminatory practices. For example, a fund established from a portion of cannabis industry tax revenues could provide grants to qualified applicants for a wide variety of opportunities. In any event, these social equity issues should no longer be ignored.</p>
<h2>Amnesty</h2>
<p>Transform also raised the need for amnesty for those convicted of simple possession and use when cannabis was illegal.</p>
<p>Criminal records dog these individuals, affecting everything from employment opportunities to travel to foreign countries. </p>
<p>Canada did enact special programs for pardons for related offences in conjunction with reform of cannabis laws. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cannabis-pot-pardons-record-suspension-1.5376974">But these changes have proven inadequate</a> because of cost and other barriers, and because convictions still persist and cannot be denied by affected individuals when questioned.</p>
<p>There have been <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/canada-cannabis-pardons_ca_5ef3664ec5b6c5bf7c58a6c3">very few applications</a> under this process. Instead, as Transform emphasizes, amnesty is needed that compels governments to erase convictions or, at least, seal relevant records. Such initiatives are underway in some U.S. states, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-02-13/la-district-attorney-clear-marijuana-convictions">notably California.</a> </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-new-lacklustre-law-for-cannabis-amnesty-119220">Canada's new lacklustre law for cannabis amnesty</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>On the whole, Transform lauds Canadian efforts at reform. Others have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/15/world/canada/marijuana-cannabis-legalization.html">not been so kind</a>. Take, for example, an article in <em>The Guardian</em> in April ominously headlined: “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/apr/05/stoners-cheered-when-canada-legalised-cannabis-how-did-it-all-go-wrong">How did it go so wrong?</a>” </p>
<p>The story documented legitimate shortcomings regarding access to the legal market (for example, not enough retail outlets, especially in Ontario), the fight to eliminate the illicit market and the problems faced by the cannabis industry to turn profits. It characterizes Canadian legalization as “driven by vulture capitalism and wishful thinking” in a “mix of greed and naivete.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman reaches into a display cabinet at a cannabis store" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347184/original/file-20200713-30-1n7yny9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1007%2C280%2C2441%2C2042&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347184/original/file-20200713-30-1n7yny9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347184/original/file-20200713-30-1n7yny9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347184/original/file-20200713-30-1n7yny9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347184/original/file-20200713-30-1n7yny9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347184/original/file-20200713-30-1n7yny9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347184/original/file-20200713-30-1n7yny9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An employee arranges cannabis products at the HOBO Cannabis Company during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto in June 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Canada still has a long way to go to ensure cannabis legalization is successful. </p>
<p>But the harm caused <a href="https://www.cacp.ca/index.html?asst_id=2189">by criminalizing</a> the use of other drugs is a different story. This month the Canadian Chiefs of Police <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/chiefs-police-decriminalize-posession-personal-use-1.5643687">endorsed the decriminalization of the personal use and possession of all drugs</a>. Is another chapter unfolding?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141968/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bill Bogart does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The British think tank Transform has given Canada high marks for its cannabis legalization efforts. But it also delved into areas that still need work, including social equity issues like amnesty.Bill Bogart, Distinguished University Professor and Professor of Law Emeritus, University of WindsorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1131552019-03-14T14:49:29Z2019-03-14T14:49:29ZBloody Sunday: as former British soldier faces murder charges, Northern Ireland still divided by legacy of violence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263686/original/file-20190313-123554-nkvy20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A mural in Bogside in Derry/Londonderry near the site of the events of Bloody Sunday. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/8647344@N04/14396308996/sizes/l">murielle29/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-47540271">former British soldier</a> is to face trial for the murder of two unarmed civilians, and the attempted murder of two others in Derry/Londonderry on “Bloody Sunday” in January 1972. While the soldier, known as “soldier F”, will be prosecuted, the Public Prosecution Service deemed there was “insufficient evidence” to charge another 16 former soldiers for the deaths of 13 people, and two men from the official Irish Republican Army (IRA). </p>
<p>The landmark decision emphasises once more the primacy of the past in Northern Ireland and the difficulties in coming to terms with the legacy of conflict.</p>
<p>It’s been a hectic period for investigations and prosecutions related to what’s known as Northern Ireland’s “Troubles”. In early March, the Republic of Ireland decided <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-47415011">to allow the extradition</a> to Northern Ireland of John Downey, accused of involvement in the 1982 Hyde Park bombing which killed four soldiers. In February, an inquest was also opened into <a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/v41/n04/chris-mullin/diary">the Birmingham pub bombings</a> of November 1974, and the Supreme Court declared that a previous investigation into the killing of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/feb/27/pat-finucane-inquiry-fell-below-human-rights-standards-judges-rule?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Tweet">failed to meet the necessary standards</a> under human rights law.</p>
<p>The decision to prosecute the soldier also comes amid an increasingly vexed Brexit process, ongoing <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-47075933">paramilitary activity</a>, and an incident in early March when letter bombs were posted to London sites, including Waterloo train station and Heathrow airport, from a Dublin address. A group previously known to the authorities as the “New IRA” <a href="https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/new-ira-admit-responsibility-for-letter-bombs-sent-to-london-and-glasgow-37904557.html">claimed responsibility</a> for sending the explosive devices. </p>
<p>Every day, local newspapers in Northern Ireland carry reports devoted to the Troubles: from atrocities being or not being investigated, to controversial <a href="https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/dup-attack-michelle-oneills-speech-at-memorial-for-ira-men-killed-by-sas-at-loughgall-an-insult-to-victims-35668364.html">commemorations</a> of Republican and Loyalist actions. The Unionist News Letter went as far as to publish a “legacy” series in 2018, with the purpose of challenging what Unionists regard as <a href="https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/crime/legacy-unit-imbalance-is-clear-for-all-to-see-1-8831665">“imbalance”</a> against British state forces in how the past is officially addressed.</p>
<h2>Politics of the past</h2>
<p>The problem in Northern Ireland is that each side regards the past competitively and as part of an ongoing political dispute. It is the lifeblood for the two largest parties, the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) and Sinn Féin. </p>
<p>Sinn Féin wants justice for victims of “collusion” – between British security forces and Loyalist paramilitaries – and those who died at the hands of British security forces during incidents such as Bloody Sunday, but not for the <a href="https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/sutton/tables/Organisation_Responsible.html">1,700 people</a> who died from IRA violence. The DUP, on the other hand, wants more Republicans (or “terrorists”, as they term them) to be investigated for past atrocities and <a href="https://www.irishnews.com/news/politicalnews/2017/02/07/news/sdlp-and-sinn-fe-in-reject-time-limit-on-prosecutions-against-soldiers-922528/">members of the security forces to be spared</a>.</p>
<p>In early March, secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Karen Bradley – commonly regarded in a packed field as the worst secretary of state ever to serve the people of Northern Ireland – stated in the House of Commons that killings by British troops were <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-47471469">“not crimes”</a>, and that the British Army’s general conduct was “dignified and appropriate”. Understandably, this led to immediate calls for her resignation. Unionists then <a href="https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/ben-lowry-far-from-being-too-soft-on-the-security-forces-karen-bradley-has-failed-to-defend-them-1-8841510">turned on her</a> when she apologised for her comments.</p>
<p>Many in Northern Ireland’s little political echo chamber are unaware of groups of former servicemen in England who are becoming increasingly active in response to suggested trials and prosecutions of British troops. This hardens into public comments such as those from a former paratrooper that Bloody Sunday was a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-46514940">“job well done”</a>. It is a lobby, surfacing through some veterans campaign groups, that is sure to grow in volume, numbers and anger.</p>
<p>There are a number of ways in which the past might be addressed beyond the current <a href="https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/i-wish-we-could-point-fingers-at-commanders-says-uup-war-veteran-doug-beattie-over-troubles-soldiers-prosecutions-37876205.html">“piecemeal”</a> approach of prosecuting certain one-off cases.</p>
<p>In 2018, the UK’s Northern Ireland Office issued an open consultation to hear views on the issue, garnering a staggering <a href="https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/nio-sifting-17-000-responses-to-legacy-plan-with-no-end-in-sight-1-8811211">17,000 responses</a>. Its published recommendations range from an increased role for the current <a href="https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/legacy-scandal-plans-for-the-past-perpetuate-a-mess-which-favours-dividers-and-terrorists-says-trevor-ringland-1-8627323">criminal justice system</a>, to an “oral history archive” (first properly outlined in a <a href="https://www.northernireland.gov.uk/publications/haass-report-proposed-agreement">2014 report</a> by US diplomat Richard Haass), to a South African-style truth and reconciliation commission.</p>
<h2>Barriers to an amnesty</h2>
<p>Echoing what happened in South Africa, one of the more controversial solutions highlighted as a recommendation from the consultation is a conditional Troubles “amnesty”. Some <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/a-conditional-troubles-amnesty-is-worthy-of-consideration-1.3624008">have suggested</a> that former protagonists of the conflict would be able to come forward to discuss their role “outside their own tribe or circle of intimate acquaintances”, potentially leading “to a fuller disclosure of the facts” than any law court.</p>
<p>It’s worth remembering that there is currently a form of de facto amnesty. Those convicted of Troubles killings – including British soldiers – will only serve two years of any jail term under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Initially this only covered offences committed between 1973 and 1998, but the British government <a href="https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/troops-convicted-over-bloody-sunday-would-qualify-for-early-release-scheme-37909537.html">recently confirmed</a> it would extend the early release scheme to cover offences committed since January 1968, and so would ensure the swift release of soldier “F” should he be convicted.</p>
<p>Still, talk of a broad amnesty is normally rejected by Unionists, Irish nationalists and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-47518887">victims groups</a>, as it would mean those responsible for killing would avoid prosecution. However, if applied across the board – to Republicans and Loyalists, as well as to former British troops – it might take the heat and partiality out of the subject. </p>
<p>Former Republican and Loyalist players in the conflict are routinely condemned, but many have gone on to play an important role in community work, education, the media and the arts. Even more importantly, peace only arrives when the protagonists engage and decide to stop the violence. </p>
<p>Leaving aside the case of the ex-paratrooper due to be tried for Bloody Sunday, a wider amnesty is most unlikely in the present moment. As the current Conservative government is <a href="https://theconversation.com/conservatives-strike-deal-with-the-dup-experts-react-80101">reliant on the DUP</a> for critical votes in the House of Commons, the British and Irish governments would need to be in a stronger position before imposing this necessary framework from above.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113155/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Connal Parr does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Why a broad amnesty for Northern Ireland’s Troubles remains unlikely.Connal Parr, Lecturer, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1034192018-10-15T21:32:21Z2018-10-15T21:32:21ZAs cannabis is legalized, let’s remember amnesty<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240460/original/file-20181012-109216-vqjfaz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The new cannabis legislation in Canada does not give enough thought to those who were overly punished for cannabis-related activities.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jakob Owens/Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Weed, spliff, cannabis, joint, blunt, Mary Jane, ganja, reefer, marijuana, pot: no matter what you call it, it is almost legal in Canada. Many will benefit from the new right to grow, sell or smoke legally and freely.</p>
<p>Before we celebrate, let’s take a moment to remember the <a href="https://news.vice.com/en_ca/article/d35eyq/black-and-indigenous-people-are-overrepresented-in-canadas-weed-arrests">Black and Indigenous peoples who have been overrepresented in Canada’s cannabis-related arrests, despite similar rates of cannabis use across racial groups</a>. According to a <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2017/07/06/toronto-marijuana-arrests-reveal-startling-racial-divide.html">2017 <em>Toronto Star</em> report:</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Black people with no history of criminal convictions have been three times more likely to be arrested by Toronto police for possession of small amounts of marijuana than white people with similar backgrounds…” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>A <a href="https://news.vice.com/en_ca/article/d35eyq/black-and-indigenous-people-are-overrepresented-in-canadas-weed-arrests"><em>Vice</em> report filed by Rachel Browne</a> looked at statistics from 2015-17 and found that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Indigenous people in Regina were nearly nine times more likely to get arrested for cannabis possession than white people during that time period.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The <a href="http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/cj-jp/cannabis/">Cannabis Act</a> (Bill C–45), informed by <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/services/health/marijuana-cannabis/task-force-marijuana-legalization-regulation/framework-legalization-regulation-cannabis-in-canada.html">the recommendations of the Task Force on Cannabis</a>, creates a <a href="http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-24.5/">legal framework</a> for “controlling the production, distribution, sale and possession of cannabis in Canada.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240681/original/file-20181015-165888-1efbvdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240681/original/file-20181015-165888-1efbvdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240681/original/file-20181015-165888-1efbvdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240681/original/file-20181015-165888-1efbvdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240681/original/file-20181015-165888-1efbvdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240681/original/file-20181015-165888-1efbvdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240681/original/file-20181015-165888-1efbvdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Although use of cannabis is spread evenly among racial identities, Black and Indigenous people are more likely than white folks to be arrested for using it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thought Catalog/Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The act, however, <a href="https://nowtoronto.com/news/marijuana-legalization-amnesty/">does not discuss cannabis amnesty</a>. <a href="https://www.cannabisamnesty.ca/cannabis_legalization_and_the_need_for_amnesty">Cannabis amnesty</a> is the clearing or turning over of previous convictions of <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/cannabis/article-canada-needs-to-clear-the-air-and-wipe-away-criminal-records-for/">cannabis “crimes” that occurred before the legislation took effect</a>. </p>
<p>Cannabis has a <a href="http://dankr.ca/lifestyle/racist-origins-marijuana-prohibition">long history of being used to criminalize African, Indigenous and racialized peoples</a> in Canada and <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/marijuana-prohibition-racist_n_4590190">globally</a>. The lack of redress in Canada’s Bill C-45 for those convicted of marijuana charges indicates <a href="https://news.vice.com/en_ca/article/gymnym/why-legalization-wont-change-racial-disparities-in-cannabis-arrests">Canada’s continuation of these racist policies and processes</a>. </p>
<p>While there are some critical discussions among African or Black scholars, lawyers and activists, <a href="http://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/january-2018/where-are-black-canadians-in-the-cannabis-debate/">the history of who has been criminalized has largely been ignored or silenced in the current legalization debates</a>.</p>
<h2>A continuum of colonial tragedies</h2>
<p>Despite the absence of race in the legal debates, some media and academics have linked racism and the decriminalization of cannabis in Canada.</p>
<p>Robyn Maynard’s book <a href="https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/policing-black-lives"><em>Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to Present</em></a> eloquently discusses the historical and current realities of anti-Black racism (and Black resistance) through state-sanctioned violence. Maynard connects <a href="https://www.theleafnews.com/news/making-amends-468883883.html">drug incarcerations with child incarcerations (in the form of Children Aids Society apprehensions) and other racist systemic practices that continue to harm mostly African and Indigenous families</a>.</p>
<p>In addition to the <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2017/07/06/toronto-marijuana-arrests-reveal-startling-racial-divide.html"><em>Toronto Star</em> and <em>Vice</em> reports</a>, articles in the <a href="https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/black-communities-seek-cannabis-amnesty-as-pot-legalization-nears"><em>National Post</em></a> and the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/07/canada-marijuana-cannabis-legalization-amnesty-drug-laws"><em>Guardian</em> </a> question why the new legislation does not address past and more recent marijuana convictions and criminalization. </p>
<p>Other news stories that link racism to the criminalization of cannabis have come out of the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/legalize-pot-racism-black-1.4257411"><em>CBC</em></a>, <a href="https://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/a-bad-trip-legalizing-pot-is-about-race/"><em>Macleans</em></a> and <a href="https://nowtoronto.com/news/cannabis-indigenous-communities/"><em>Now</em></a>. But much more research and discussion about the impacts of both the criminalization and the decriminalization of cannabis on Black and Indigenous communities is needed. </p>
<p>There has been a <a href="https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/policing-black-lives">deliberate campaign to criminalize racialized groups in Canada</a> and the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5004736/">United States</a>, and <a href="http://dankr.ca/lifestyle/racist-origins-marijuana-prohibition">the criminalization of cannabis use has been part of this</a>. </p>
<p>Many members of the Black and Indigenous communities feel outrage, anger and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/pot-legalization-bob-marley-grandaughter-donisha-prendergast-1.4859536">distress</a> at the historically racist legislation. They now feel <a href="https://news.vice.com/en_ca/article/gymnym/why-legalization-wont-change-racial-disparities-in-cannabis-arrests">excluded from its possible resolution</a>. </p>
<h2>How long shall they kill our profits?</h2>
<p>Despite a few good articles, the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/irisdorbian/2018/07/17/as-legalization-looms-canadas-pot-industry-reels-in-the-cash/">news media</a> has mostly focused on the <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4460887/canada-weed-stocks-skyrocketing-investing/">cannabis market</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240687/original/file-20181015-165921-pyn9ye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240687/original/file-20181015-165921-pyn9ye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240687/original/file-20181015-165921-pyn9ye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240687/original/file-20181015-165921-pyn9ye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240687/original/file-20181015-165921-pyn9ye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240687/original/file-20181015-165921-pyn9ye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240687/original/file-20181015-165921-pyn9ye.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cannabis is now a gentrified business in Canada.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cannabis is a plant that <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/tapestry/connecting-with-your-roots-for-better-and-for-worse-1.4576663/ganja-is-not-a-drug-bob-marley-s-granddaughter-on-rasta-spirituality-1.4576668">has been used globally</a> for <a href="https://www.livescience.com/48337-marijuana-history-how-cannabis-travelled-world.html">thousands of years for spiritual, recreational and medicinal purposes</a>. In many communities, <a href="http://africanhistory.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-44">cannabis is a cultural marker</a>. For example, <a href="https://www.cannaconnection.com/blog/9082-background-rastafari-and-use-of-marijuana">Rastafarian communities use cannabis in spiritual ceremonies</a>. </p>
<p>The Cannabis Act does not specifically discuss the market possibilities of this <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-wednesday-edition-1.4403187/julian-fantino-who-once-compared-weed-to-murder-defends-opening-medical-marijuana-business-1.4403194">gentrified industry</a>, but the links between <a href="https://nowtoronto.com/news/10-pot-entrepreneurs-disrupting-marijuana-white-male-monopoly/">white male elites</a> and the business of cannabis can already be seen. <em>Now</em> reports that while there are exceptions, “almost all of the country’s 80-plus licensed producers (LPs) are run by white men” and only “<a href="https://nowtoronto.com/news/10-pot-entrepreneurs-disrupting-marijuana-white-male-monopoly/">five per cent of board members of publicly traded weed companies in Canada are female</a>.” </p>
<p>By focusing <a href="https://money.cnn.com/2017/12/02/news/canada-cannabis/index.html">mainly on the money to be made from the “new legitimized” growers and sellers</a>, these stories of potential success ignore the permeating racist ideology, structures and practices that were created to systematically steal resources (including people) from Indigenous communities globally. In the conversations about money, there are few discussions about reparations for past violence and diminished opportunities.</p>
<p>Evidence from the U.S. shows that in <a href="https://www.npr.org/2016/06/29/483954157/as-adults-legally-smoke-pot-in-colorado-more-minority-kids-arrested-for-it">states where cannabis is legal, racialized folks continue to be arrested</a> at higher rates <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/19/opinion/boehner-marijuana-blacks-prison.html">than whites for weed possession</a>. </p>
<p>Therefore, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/1/29/16936908/marijuana-legalization-racial-disparities-arrests">racialized people are still criminalized for cannabis, punished and isolated from their families and communities</a>, leaving opportunities for big cannabis business in the hands of white elites. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240688/original/file-20181015-165924-1lj0nu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240688/original/file-20181015-165924-1lj0nu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240688/original/file-20181015-165924-1lj0nu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240688/original/file-20181015-165924-1lj0nu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240688/original/file-20181015-165924-1lj0nu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240688/original/file-20181015-165924-1lj0nu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240688/original/file-20181015-165924-1lj0nu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Business opportunities for cannabis are not equal because of historical laws and policing which disproportionately targeted Black and Indigenous peoples.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why Canada banned pot</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/12/01/why_canada_banned_pot_science_had_nothing_to_do_with_it.html">ban on drugs, including cannabis, in the early 20th century has links to racism and curtailed immigration</a>. For example, <a href="https://www.ubcpress.ca/asset/9359/1/9780774829199.pdf">the 1908 Opium Act</a> and the <a href="https://kpulawandsociety.wordpress.com/2014/11/04/applying-critical-race-theory-to-the-chinese-immigration-act-of-1923/">1923 Chinese Exclusion Act</a> are both connected to anti-Asian sentiments, under the guise that <a href="http://www.roadtojustice.ca/laws/chinese-exclusion-act">opium would be brought by Chinese immigrants to “Canadian (white) youth.”</a></p>
<p>Emily Murphy’s <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/3kvgg8/the-mother-of-canadas-marijuana-laws-is-a-feminist-hero-and-a-racist-monster">1922 book, <em>The Black Candle</em></a> helped to connect the fear of “the other” to cannabis. Soon after her book was published, cannabis was added to the restricted list of drugs in the 1923 Opium and Narcotic Drug Act. That act and <a href="https://420intel.ca/articles/2018/04/26/exclusive-timeline-cannabis-legalization-canada">the later Narcotics Control Act of 1961 led to marijuana convictions and incarcerations</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-pot-smoking-became-illegal-in-canada-92499">How pot-smoking became illegal in Canada</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The Canadian state was <a href="https://www.facinghistory.org/stolen-lives-indigenous-peoples-canada-and-indian-residential-schools/chapter-7/canadian-genocide-search-name">built on Indigenous genocide and apartheid</a>, sanctioned by the <a href="https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_indian_act/">ruthless Indian Act</a> and the viciousness of the “enslavement of African peoples” whereby enslavement <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/black-enslavement">“was a legal instrument that helped fuel colonial economic enterprise.”</a> This history shaped the environment where Black and Indigenous peoples were deemed to be criminalized. </p>
<h2>Marijuana legalized today: Racism here to stay?</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240685/original/file-20181015-165924-1m5u20r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240685/original/file-20181015-165924-1m5u20r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240685/original/file-20181015-165924-1m5u20r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240685/original/file-20181015-165924-1m5u20r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240685/original/file-20181015-165924-1m5u20r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1126&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240685/original/file-20181015-165924-1m5u20r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1126&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240685/original/file-20181015-165924-1m5u20r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1126&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reefer Madness.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Similarly, in the U.S., Mexican and Black people were blamed for cannabis use. These racist ideas were popularized by a 1936 propaganda film <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/racist-origins-marijuana-prohibition-legalization-2018-2"><em>Reefer Madness</em>, which spread racialized notions of the</a> harm Black and Mexican users had on “good (white) folks.” The passage of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/racist-origins-marijuana-prohibition-legalization-2018-2">Boggs Act in the U.S. in 1952 set mandatory sentences for marijuana convictions</a>.</p>
<p>For the cannabis movement to be truly effective, it must address amnesty, <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-the-lives-of-white-killers-more-important-than-everyday-black-folk-96064">anti-Black racism and other intersectional violence inherent in our justice system</a>. But history has taught us that <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2476792">colonial violence is insidious and continuous</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://news.vice.com/en_ca/article/gymnym/why-legalization-wont-change-racial-disparities-in-cannabis-arrests">lack of accessible race-based data on the criminalization of marijuana in Canada</a> supports the theory that discussions of racial surveillance, profiling, carding and arrests that target Black and Indigenous communities have been silenced. </p>
<p>The redress of marijuana-related convictions on African/Black and Indigenous peoples are not emphasized in Bill C-45. <a href="http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-24.5/page-2.html%23h-6">Instead, the Cannabis Act expansively outlines the behaviour that is prohibited and punishable under the new legislation</a>. </p>
<p>This emphasis ensures that the impact of cannabis amnesty will be limited and that Black, racialized and Indigenous communities will continue to face criminalization in Canada and globally, proving that old colonial rules, new elites and continuing violence still sanction the selling and use of cannabis.</p>
<p>We continue, however hopeless it sometimes feels, with the weight of thousands of ancestors behind us, resisting, persisting and demanding — for real freedom. This struggle includes the fight for amnesty for “crimes” from which others can now freely economically and socially benefit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103419/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roberta K. Timothy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Now that cannabis is almost legal in Canada, many are celebrating. Before we forget, we should remember those that have been arrested for previous crimes and push for amnesty.Roberta K. Timothy, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream. Social and Behavioural Health Science, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/960632018-05-22T10:47:47Z2018-05-22T10:47:47ZAmnesty for drug traffickers? That’s one Mexican presidential candidate’s pitch to voters<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219595/original/file-20180518-42230-o8y9p9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Can Mexico become a 'loving republic' built on forgiveness rather than punishment?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/original-illustration-drawing-convicted-prisoners-jail-547276720">Shutterstock/Nalidsa</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/amnistia-para-traficantes-eso-propone-este-candidato-presidencial-mexicano-98800"><em>Leer en español</em></a>.</p>
<p>With over <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-violence/mexico-suffers-deadliest-month-on-record-2017-set-to-be-worst-year-idUSKBN1DL2Z6">29,000 murders</a>, 2017 was the deadliest year in Mexico since modern record-keeping began. Nearly two-thirds of Mexicans <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2018-04/www-march-2018.pdf">say</a> crime and violence are the biggest problems facing their country. </p>
<p>A main cause of the bloodshed, <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-decade-of-murder-and-grief-mexicos-drug-war-turns-ten-70036">studies show</a>, is the Mexican government’s violent crackdown on drug trafficking. <a href="http://calderon.presidencia.gob.mx/2006/12/anuncio-sobre-la-operacion-conjunta-michoacan/">Launched in 2006</a> under President Felipe Calderón, this military assault on cartels has left <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com.mx/2017/11/23/pena-y-calderon-suman-234-mil-muertos-y-2017-es-oficialmente-el-ano-mas-violento-en-la-historia-reciente-de-mexico_a_23285694/">234,966 people dead</a> in 11 years. </p>
<p>While numerous drug kingpins have been jailed, cartels <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/dec/08/mexico-war-on-drugs-cost-achievements-us-billions">fractured under law enforcement pressure</a>, competing for territory and diversifying their business. Kidnapping and extortion have surged. Mexico is now <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-mexico-actually-the-worlds-second-most-murderous-nation-77897">one of the world’s most violent places</a>.</p>
<p>Now one presidential candidate in Mexico is hoping to win over voters with a novel response to the country’s security crisis: <a href="http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/articulo/catalina-perez-correa/nacion/amnistia">amnesty for criminals</a>.</p>
<h2>Justice not revenge</h2>
<p>The idea, first floated by leftist front-runner Andrés Manuel López Obrador in <a href="https://www.proceso.com.mx/450727/ofrece-amlo-amnistia-anticipada-los-grupos-poder">August 2016</a>, is undeveloped and quite likely quixotic. López Obrador has yet to even indicate precisely what benefit the Mexican government would get in exchange for pardoning felons. </p>
<p>Still, as a <a href="https://lha.uow.edu.au/law/contacts/UOW155522.html">law professor</a> who studies drug policy, I must give López Obrador some credit for originality. His three competitors have mostly <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com.mx/2018/04/22/asi-reaccionaron-los-mexicanos-al-primer-debate-presidencial_a_23417628/">frustrated voters</a> this campaign season by suggesting the same <a href="https://www.insightcrime.org/news/analysis/mexico-next-president-rising-criminal-violence-how-to-tackle-it/">tried-and-failed law enforcement-based strategies</a>. </p>
<p>López Obrador, founder and leader of Mexico’s MORENA Party, is a <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-mexico-a-firebrand-leftist-provokes-the-powers-that-be-including-donald-trump-78918">rabble-rousing politician</a> who delights in challenging the status quo. In this, his third presidential bid, he has on several occasions <a href="http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/elecciones-2018/amlo-plantea-analizar-amnistia-lideres-del-narco-para-garantizar-la-paz">suggested</a> that <a href="https://aristeguinoticias.com/0312/mexico/que-amnistias-propone-amlo-videos/">both members of organized crime groups</a> and corrupt politicians could be pardoned for their crimes. </p>
<p>When pressed for details on the amnesty plan, López Obrador has simply responded that “amnesty is not impunity” or that Mexico needs “justice,” not “revenge.” </p>
<p>Former Supreme Court Justice Olga Sánchez Cordero, López Obrador’s pick for secretary of the interior, has offered a few additional hints about the plan. She <a href="https://www.reforma.com/libre/players/mmplayer.aspx?idm=97601&te=100&ap=1">says that voters should think of amnesty</a> not as a security policy but as a kind of transitional justice. It would be an instrument used to pacify Mexico. </p>
<p>The opportunity would be time-limited. Criminals would lose their immunity after a specific date if they have not met certain conditions – though these conditions remain undefined. It would also exclude serious crimes such as torture, rape or homicide. </p>
<p>All presidential pardons would need to be approved by Congress, in accordance with the <a href="http://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/pdf/1_150917.pdf">Mexican Constitution</a>. </p>
<h2>Amnesty in Colombia</h2>
<p>Sound vague? That’s because it is.</p>
<p>López Obrador says that his amnesty idea is still in development, and <a href="https://lopezobrador.org.mx/2018/05/08/participa-amlo-en-el-dialogo-por-la-paz-y-justicia-la-agenda-fundamental/">that his team will work</a> with religious organizations, Pope Francis, United Nations General Secretary António Guterres, Mexican civil society groups and human rights experts to develop “a plan to achieve peace for the country, with justice and dignity.” </p>
<p>Colombia offers one example of how amnesty can be used <a href="https://theconversation.com/colombian-guerrillas-disarm-starting-their-risky-return-to-civilian-life-73947">as an instrument for peace</a>. </p>
<p>In 2016 the Colombian government signed an accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, ending the Marxist group’s violent 52-year rebellion. In exchange for laying down their weapons, <a href="http://es.presidencia.gov.co/normativa/normativa/LEY%201820%20DEL%2030%20DE%20DICIEMBRE%20DE%202016.pdf">FARC fighters were offered protection</a> from prosecution for political crimes committed during the conflict.</p>
<p>The amnesty law is extremely controversial. Colombian conservatives and the United Nations alike have <a href="https://elpais.com/internacional/2017/03/16/colombia/1489680361_529580.html">criticized</a> it for prioritizing the rights of guerrillas over those of their victims. Colombia’s peace process has also been fraught by delays, <a href="https://theconversation.com/colombias-murder-rate-is-at-an-all-time-low-but-its-activists-keep-getting-killed-91602">flare-ups of violence</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-latest-threat-to-peace-in-colombia-congress-87810">political opposition</a>.</p>
<p>Still, according to the <a href="http://www.cerac.org.co/es/">Conflict Analysis Resource Center</a>, a think tank, conflict-related deaths among both civilians and combatants <a href="http://blog.cerac.org.co/un-ano-de-desescalamiento-conflicto-casi-detenido">dropped over 90 percent</a> in 2016. </p>
<h2>Would amnesty work in Mexico?</h2>
<p>Mexico is not Colombia. </p>
<p>López Obrador is proposing amnesty in a different conflict carried out by radically different actors – drug kingpins, corrupt politicians and security forces who for 11 years have waged war with <a href="https://theconversation.com/mexicos-corruption-problems-are-still-among-the-worlds-deepest-76627">virtual impunity</a>.</p>
<p>It’s unclear, for example, why drug traffickers would abandon their <a href="http://olinca.edu.mx/images/PDFs/Antecedentes_CONAGO_A.pdf">US$40 billion</a> illicit industry – which supports around <a href="http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2013/04/01/edito">500,000 jobs</a> in Mexico – in exchange for a preemptive pardon from authorities.</p>
<p>It is also difficult to reconcile López Obrador’s vows for <a href="https://www.forbes.com.mx/andres-manuel-lopez-obrador-promete-honestidad-como-pilar-de-su-gobierno/">honest government</a> with his proposal to pardon corruption, though he <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ5rvIHoAG4">has committed to</a> finishing all <a href="https://elpais.com/internacional/2018/04/19/mexico/1524150473_535247.html">ongoing investigations into public officials</a> accused of corruption. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219597/original/file-20180518-42200-vh6d1l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219597/original/file-20180518-42200-vh6d1l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219597/original/file-20180518-42200-vh6d1l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219597/original/file-20180518-42200-vh6d1l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219597/original/file-20180518-42200-vh6d1l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219597/original/file-20180518-42200-vh6d1l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219597/original/file-20180518-42200-vh6d1l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who goes by his initials, AMLO, has not elaborated on his amnesty idea.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>López Obrador claims to seek a new “<a href="http://www.nacion321.com/elecciones/las-claves-para-entender-la-constitucion-moral-de-andres-manuel-lopez-obrador">moral constitution</a>” for Mexico. He maintains that forgiveness is necessary to construct a “república amorosa” – “<a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=pJHoAQAACAAJ&source=gbs_book_other_versions">loving republic</a>” – in which Mexicans “live under the principle that being good is the only way to be joyful.” </p>
<h2>A simple expectation</h2>
<p>Mexicans don’t feel joyful right now. </p>
<p>According to a <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2018-04/www-march-2018.pdf">recent IPSOS poll</a>, 89 percent of Mexicans believe the country is on the wrong track. Almost 70 percent disapprove of President Enrique Peña Nieto’s <a href="https://www.eleconomista.com.mx/politica/Impacta-el-periodo-electoral-en-la-aprobacion-del-presidente-20180301-0153.html">performance</a>.</p>
<p>Journalist and historian Héctor Aguilar Camín has <a href="https://www.nexos.com.mx/?p=34957">described</a> voters’ current mood as “melancholic.” <a href="https://theconversation.com/governors-gone-wild-mexico-faces-a-lost-generation-of-corrupt-leaders-76858">Rampant corruption</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/for-many-mexicans-this-government-spying-scandal-feels-eerily-familiar-79981">government repression</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-mexico-actually-the-worlds-second-most-murderous-nation-77897">bloody violence</a> have made them skeptical of politics. But, as Aguilar Camín says, people also need desperately to believe that change is possible.</p>
<p>This discontent has given López Obrador <a href="http://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/elecciones-2018/lopez-obrador-el-presidenciable-que-mas-crece-en-intencion-de-voto">a virtually unbeatable lead</a> in the lead-up to the July election. </p>
<p>To paraphrase the prominent Mexican-American Univision reporter Jorge Ramos, all Mexicans want from their next president is <a href="https://twitter.com/oneamexico/status/996036144423952384">to keep them from being killed</a>. So they’re open to unusual ideas.</p>
<p>During <a href="https://elpais.com/internacional/2018/05/21/mexico/1526881664_964397.html">two presidential debates</a>, the only candidate other than López Obrador to propose a <a href="https://www.animalpolitico.com/2018/04/bronco-mochar-manos/">radical new crime-fighting tactic</a> is Governor Jaime “El Bronco” Rodríguez, an independent from Nuevo Leon state. He promised “to cut off the hands” of corrupt politicians and criminals, a suggestion that left moderator <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPcI1RdkYJk">Azucena Uresti</a> – and <a href="https://www.debate.com.mx/politica/memes-bronco-debate-presidencial-declaracion-polemica-20180422-0266.html">most of the country</a> – aghast. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/pdf/1_150917.pdf">Mexican Constitution</a> prohibits punishment with mutilation and torture.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qwY4XngqgZ4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Mexico held its first presidential debate on April 23, 2018. Independent Margarita Zavala, far left, dropped out of the race in mid-May.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Electoral advantages of ambiguity</h2>
<p>Only López Obrador, with his amnesty suggestion, has questioned whether aggressive law enforcement should even be the core tenet of Mexican security policy.</p>
<p>His competitors have <a href="https://www.publimetro.com.mx/mx/destacado-tv/2018/04/22/todos-me-estan-echando-monton-asi-fueron-los-ataques-amlo-debate.html">attacked</a> the idea, calling it “madness” and “nonsense.” Some accused López Obrador of being “a puppet of criminals.” </p>
<p>Alfonso Durazo, whom López Obrador’s would nominate to be Mexico’s secretary of security, <a href="https://www.animalpolitico.com/2018/04/alfonso-durazo-presenta-la-estrategia-de-seguridad-de-amlo/">believes</a> that an amnesty law could end the “cycle of war” in Mexico by setting in motion a process of national reconciliation.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, to actively combat crime, López Obrador says he would <a href="https://lopezobrador.org.mx/seguridad/">merge</a> the police and the military into one unified <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/11B0aNBuVpHB7GDVXhCKdYvVKw7D7Ta-x/view">national guard</a> under <a href="https://www.laotraopinion.com.mx/video-amlo-admite-que-dominaria-la-guardia-nacional/">direct presidential command</a>.</p>
<p>Maybe forgiveness and justice is what Mexico needs. But, for now, presidential pardons seem like little more than a hollow campaign promise. As Mexican pundit Denise Dresser has <a href="https://www.reforma.com/aplicacioneslibre/editoriales/editorial.aspx?id=133785&md5=bf01a6c9a494d84f5a9996299910ee64&ta=0dfdbac11765226904c16cb9ad1b2efe&lcmd5=e7143908412dfff2e3b6e6f84bc178f5">put it</a>, López Obrador’s amnesty plan is merely “a blank page on the table, with multiple scriveners working on it.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96063/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luis Gómez Romero does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Mexico’s presidential front-runner wants to end violence in Mexico by pardoning drug traffickers and corrupt officials. Some 235,000 people have died in the country’s 11-year cartel war.Luis Gómez Romero, Senior Lecturer in Human Rights, Constitutional Law and Legal Theory, University of WollongongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/740852017-03-08T14:41:43Z2017-03-08T14:41:43ZHow amnesty efforts in the Niger Delta triggered new violence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159764/original/image-20170307-14939-wonbq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New militant groups have emerged in Nigeria's Delta region.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/George Esiri</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The introduction of disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programmes have become <a href="http://www.stabilityjournal.org/articles/10.5334/sta.fs/">common practice</a> in countries emerging from violent conflict. Arguably, the most difficult aspect is the successful and long-term reintegration of former combatants into civilian life.</p>
<p>In Nigeria this was certainly the case. The country’s disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programme is known locally as the <a href="http://www.osapnd.gov.ng/index/ndap">amnesty program</a>. It was introduced by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in 2009 and was aimed at members of armed militant groups that were present in the Niger Delta. This includes; the <a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/mend.htm">Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta</a>, <a href="https://www.trackingterrorism.org/group/niger-delta-peoples-volunteer-force-ndpvf">Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force</a>, and <a href="https://www.trackingterrorism.org/group/niger-delta-vigilante">Niger Delta Vigilante</a>. </p>
<p>These militant groups emerged around 2006 and were known for their violent attacks on the region’s oil infrastructure and kidnapping oil companies’ employees for ransom. As a result of the violence and instability, the production and export of oil from the Niger Delta region <a href="http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2%3A280470/FULLTEXT01.pdf">decreased sharply</a> after 2006.</p>
<p>The amnesty programme was set up to put an <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19392206.2016.1270140">end to this</a>. Its main objective was to disarm, demobilise and reintegrate armed militants back into communities. The programme involved offering benefits – such as opportunities in education as well as money – to militants who gave up their weapons. </p>
<p>Our ongoing <a href="http://soc.kuleuven.be/crpd/reintegration-of-ex-combatants-in-the-niger-delta-region">research project</a> at the University of Leuven identified why the initiative failed and highlights why programmes of this nature can fall apart. A major finding was that it wasn’t accompanied by meaningful and durable reintegration and that deep-seated socio-economic problems weren’t tackled at the same time.</p>
<h2>Terms of the amnesty</h2>
<p>Under its terms militants who freely handed over their weapons and demobilised wouldn’t be prosecuted and would even receive benefits. These benefits included; a formal education in Nigeria or abroad, small loans to start businesses as well as a monthly allowance of about US$400. The allowance was significantly higher than Nigeria’s minimum wage of about US$60 per month. </p>
<p>Leaders of militant groups were also offered <a href="http://leadership.ng/news/438108/nimasa-pays-tompolo-n1-5bn-monthly-ex-chairman">large and highly profitable contracts</a> in the oil industry and other sectors of the economy. In the wake of the amnesty programme, ex-militant leaders <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/07/11/militants-are-again-devastating-nigerias-oil-industry-heres-the-background-you-wont-find-elsewhere/">gained</a> political power and influence in the cities to which they returned.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159763/original/image-20170307-14951-l365ox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159763/original/image-20170307-14951-l365ox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159763/original/image-20170307-14951-l365ox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159763/original/image-20170307-14951-l365ox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159763/original/image-20170307-14951-l365ox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159763/original/image-20170307-14951-l365ox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159763/original/image-20170307-14951-l365ox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Nigerian militant youths display surrendered arms at a collection centre.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">REUTERS/Austin Ekeinde</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The programme initially resulted in a sharp reduction of violent attacks against the oil industry, leading to an <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201209220551.html">increase</a> in production. But cracks in the deal started to emerge.</p>
<p>Due to a sharp fall in oil prices, the programme became increasingly difficult for the Nigerian government to fund. In May 2015, for instance, the allowance payments to the enrolled ex-militants had to be suspended. This made matters worse and reignited tensions as a large number of ex-militants are <a href="http://ecdpm.org/great-insights/prosperity-for-peace/economic-reintegration-ex-militants-niger-delta/">unemployed and highly dependent</a> on the monthly allowances. </p>
<h2>Failures</h2>
<p>One major problem is that the Nigerian government failed to tackle wider socio-economic grievances. These include the lack of social development in local oil communities, environmental pollution and the exclusion of local communities from the governance of oil production in the Niger Delta region. </p>
<p>New militant groups emerged in the last 18 months. They claim to represent the grievances of local oil communities. These groups include the <a href="http://www.nigerdeltaavengers.org/">Niger Delta Avengers (NDA)</a>, <a href="http://guardian.ng/news/again-red-scorpions-blow-shell-pipeline-in-imo/">Red Scorpions</a> and the <a href="http://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2016/08/31/urhobo-militia-dares-military-blows-up-pipeline-in-delta/">Niger Delta Greenland Justice Movement (NDGJM)</a>. They have again started to attack the region’s oil infrastructure, resulting in a reduction of Nigeria’s oil production <a href="http://leadership.ng/news/531746/oil-production-drops-1-1mbpd-pipeline-attacks">from</a> 2.2 million to about 1.1 million barrels per day in 2016.</p>
<p>Our research also showed that Nigeria’s financial incentives actually worked as a disincentive for sustainable reintegration.</p>
<p>Firstly, ex-militants preferred to remain enrolled in the amnesty programme, instead of switching to lower-paying jobs in their communities. </p>
<p>Secondly, they started attracting new youth into militancy. The amnesty programme was initially designed for youths who were active members of armed militant groups. Evidence shows that youths, who weren’t part of any armed militant group, started to mobilise into new groups or join existing ones in order to benefit from the amnesty programme. In some instances, they quickly purchased weapons from the black market to enable them to participate in the programme.</p>
<p>Recognising this, the Nigerian government in September 2011 stopped the inclusion of new militant groups into the amnesty programme. But <a href="https://guardian.ng/news/boroh-denies-exclusion-of-itsekiri-from-amnesty-programme">discontent</a> over who’s and who’s not allowed to enrol have remained. This is partly behind the emergence of the <a href="http://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2016/08/31/urhobo-militia-dares-military-blows-up-pipeline-in-delta/">Niger Delta Greenland Justice Movement (NDGJM)</a> in Delta State.</p>
<p>The renewed instability and violent attacks in the region have again resulted in a <a href="http://europe.newsweek.com/nigeria-loses-48-billion-oil-revenue-militant-attacks-2016-official-532274?rm=eu">serious reduction</a> of the country’s oil production. This has complicated the Nigerian government’s already formidable financial and economic concerns and challenges. And attempts by the Nigerian government to use force against the (new) militant groups have proved <a href="http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/204871-nigerian-govt-orders-immediate-withdrawal-troops-niger-delta-communities.html">unsuccessful</a> as the militants continue to evade direct confrontation with the military. </p>
<h2>What now?</h2>
<p>It appears, despite all its failures, that the only short-term option to get the county’s oil production and exports back on track quickly is the continuation and possible expansion of the current amnesty programme to address the new groups that have emerged. </p>
<p>This would help increase oil exports and revenues and buy the government time to develop more effective reintegration strategies. However, any new amnesty strategy will need to de-emphasise financial payments to ex-militants for it to succeed. Instead, it will need to focus on underlying issues such as the development deficits and environmental pollution affecting communities. In the long term, the government should design transparent mechanisms which include local communities in the governance of oil production. This will reduce the tensions that provide justification for militancy in the region.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74085/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tarila Marclint Ebiede received funding from Marie Curie Sustainable Peacebuilding (SPBuild) fellowship, awarded within the Initial Training Network under the Marie Curie Action of the Seventh Framework Programme (F7) and the Nigerian government for his PhD research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Arnim Langer receives funding from Research Foundation Flanders, Flemish Inter-University Council (VLIR-UOS)</span></em></p>Nigeria’s disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programme includes monthly allowances which created new problems in the Niger Delta region.Tarila Marclint Ebiede, PhD researcher, KU LeuvenArnim Langer, Professor, KU LeuvenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.