Amanpour Syria Enters 'Transitional Justice' Phase
Dec 12, 2025
Ruti Teitel, a law professor and expert in transitional justice, discusses Syria's ongoing need for healing after a year of newfound freedom from the Assad regime. She emphasizes the importance of inclusive processes to address past abuses, drawing parallels with South Africa. Jonathan Freedland shares insights from his book on German resistance to Nazism, highlighting moral choices that fueled dissent. Meanwhile, constitutional law professor Kate Shaw explores the implications of recent Supreme Court cases on presidential power, emphasizing the fragility of democratic institutions.
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Transitional Justice Requires Inclusive Processes
- Transitional justice addresses how societies move from repressive regimes to more liberal orders by adapting justice mechanisms to political change.
- Ruti Teitel emphasizes inclusive, non-rushed processes that document crimes, property loss, and current violations for durable recovery.
Pair Policy With Culture Change
- Do pursue reparations as a multifaceted programme combining reckoning, acknowledgement, accountability, and redress.
- Aria Florant urges pairing policy change with culture change through bottom-up movement building.
Reparations Are Transformative, Not Only Punitive
- Reparations are a global practice, not limited to one group, and can be transformative rather than punitive.
- Ruti Teitel links historical examples like German payments and post-Civil War efforts to modern reparative aims.
