Borders and Boundaries: Importing asset recovery “Duty Free” in Transitional Justice processes

As new conflicts emerge, transitional justice practitioners are finding it increasingly imperative to incorporate the concepts of asset recovery into transitional justice processes and mechanisms.

However, for its success, the pillar of transitional justice relating to international asset recovery needs strengthening. Yet a granular understanding of this dimension remains a critical blind spot in the transitional justice and human rights conversation. This paper brings the dynamics of asset recovery as an emerging aspect of human rights law to the fore. In terms of methodology this article relies on Sharp’s critically motivated problem-solving theory. The paper suggests that for transitional justice to be holistic it should ‘as well as’ include asset recovery in its accountability mechanisms. Hopefully, it humbly contributes a new angle toward the understanding of what transitional justice can and could become.

Biography:  Dr Prosper Maguchu is currently visiting associate professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Previously Prosper worked as a senior projects lawyer with the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum specializing in public interest litigation. Prosper teaches anti-corruption law, business and human rights as a guest at summer schools in universities in Africa and Europe. He holds a masters degree in Transnational Criminal Justice and a doctorate on Transitional Justice, Corruption and Human Rights. His main research interests are in financial crimes, with a poorly concealed penchant for a human rights-based approach. He has written and published in peer-reviewed journals as well as several book chapters on these areas.

This seminar is part of the Scholars at Risk - Ireland speaker series.