‘There Can be No Peace Without Justice’. Critically examine this statement in relation to how war ends, taking one or two case-study to illustrate your answer.
Although there might be expectations that the world would be peaceful by now, there are still many conflicts around the world today. Two of the main conflicts occurring today are in Ukraine and in Gaza where tens of thousands of innocent lives have been lost. There have been many documented instances where the main causes of these conflicts have included a lot of grievances, and the efforts made to seek justice. In Gaza, the Palestinians explain that they have been oppressed by the Israeli governments in ways such as unlawful detentions, indiscriminate killings of civilians, and the eviction of indigenous people from their land (Aral, 2023). Similar grievances have been presented in East Ukraine where most of the locals have been targeted by the government forces since 2014 (Ran & Liu, 2024). Hence, these wars have been made possible because of the perceived lack of justice; which ultimately led to the rise of conflicts.
This demonstrates that the absence of perceived justice is one of the main causes of war and conflict. It has profound impact on the overall opinions and actions taken by those who feel oppressed and unfairly treated (Galtung, 2012). From previous conflicts, peace has only been achieved when such grievances have been successfully addressed to the satisfaction of the aggrieved. It creates the realization that peace cannot be achieved without offering justice to the aggrieved. This work aims to demonstrate how there cannot be peace without justice based on previous conflicts and wars.
Peace Without Justice
It is arguable that most wars have resulted from the absence of justice. Aggrieved people have always tried to do whatever was necessary to attain the results that they needed. This is considered a human right under International Law especially when it relates to the Right to Resist. If a people are under occupation, they are legally allowed to use armed conflict to regain their sovereignty and the principle of self-determination. Hence, there is a correlation between perceived justice by the people and their right to resist. There are many limitations associated with the determination of whether a people are legally allowed to resist or not (Snauwaert, 2023).
In many conflicts, there is a difficult task of determining the overall how justice can be achieved especially where there are many sides to the conflict. The interpretation of justice by one party may be deemed as an injustice by the other (Galtung, 1969). This creates a situation where the end of a conflict may be more difficult to achieve for one side or the other. This raises the question of what justice amounts to, and how it can be achieved where there is no clear determination of how it can be defined in each scenario.
Hence, peace without justice is an illusion. The main efforts made towards attaining justice can either be restorative or retributive. Restorative justice seeks to help the aggrieved heal from the wounds, pain and suffering as the victims. Retributive justice aims to punish the offenders. The main purpose of taking these steps towards achieving justice is that it would deter and prevent any future acts of violence and injustice by holding those responsible accountable (Snauwaert, 2023). This raises the question of why some conflicts such as that between Israel and Palestine are still ongoing after many decades; is it because justice was not offered and that those responsible were not held accountable?
Many people believe that the main path to justice is through criminal prosecution. It means that those responsible to committing injustices are held accountable, and that there is a precedent that can be used to resolve future conflicts. This has resulted in the creation of legal bodies such as the International Criminal Court (ICC) that prosecutes those determined to have caused injustices. This has played an important role in influencing the nature of the international justice system (Snauwaert, 2023). It is important to try an understand two of the most current conflicts to relate the absence of justice and peace.
Ukraine
There have been many reports about the Ukraine-Russia conflict in the recent years. However, this conflict has been ongoing for more than a decade. Ukraine is an ethically diverse country with many ideations about its position in the world. The event that occurred at the start of 2022 were just the escalation of a conflict that has been ongoing for many years because of many different factors (Aral, 2023). The main challenge relates to the neutrality of Ukraine versus its possibility of joining a Western led military alliance. This has divided the country, and resulted to the conflict that has taken the lives of many people.
The main injustice in the conflict resulted when some of the ethnic groups in the country were targeted by others. Most of the parts in the eastern parts of the country are inhabited by Russian-speaking people. However, the government in Kiev took steps to isolate them such as banning their native language from the country. There were also many attacks on the region because separatists had taken efforts to join Russia but the officials in Kiev did not want that to happen (Dietrich et al., 2011). The regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, and others such as Crimea had taken efforts to separate from Ukraine because of the policies that the government in Kiev was taking. They felt that the anti-Russia policies taken by the government were targeting them, and that it would be best for them to join the rest of the Russian country to protect their culture and identity.
Their grievances were communicated in the United Nations through Minsk agreements. These agreements sought to end the conflict by addressing the concerns of the people in the Eastern parts of the county. These people wanted their interests to be heard and respected (Galtung, 1990). Their believed that there was no justice in the decisions made in Kiev that were interpreted as targeting them, and their culture. However, the Minsk Agreements did not result in the desired outcomes. As a result, the war escalated and is still ongoing as the concerns raised were not respected by the Kiev administration. Hence, the absence of perceived justice by the people residing in East Ukraine had led to the lack of peace.
Gaza
The conflict between Israel and Palestine has been ongoing for many decades. Based on the view that there cannot be peace without justice, it is possible to conclude that justice has yet to be implemented in this conflict. In many people’s view, the conflict is between the indigenous people in the country versus settlers who have relocated to their land. The conflict is one of the bloodiest in recent history. There have been many tens of thousands of civilian lives lost within a brief period of time, and this does not seem to stop (Aral, 2023).
To fully understand what is happening in this conflict, it is important to address the underlying issues that motivate both sides to the conflict. The indigenous people living on the land have been internally displaced, and placed in what the United Nations have referred to as “death zones” such as Gaza (Aral, 2023). The indigenous community has lost most of its land, and it also does not have most of the rights that the settlers have. This has resulted to the country of Israel being referred to as an apartheid state that encourages inequality for its people. The Palestinians have been the people the state has segregated, and unfairly treated for many decades.
The injustices that the people of Palestine have undergone have resulted in resistance against the Israeli government. Although there were many efforts made to solve the problem diplomatically, this has failed to provide the results that the Palestinians wanted (Aral, 2023). The conflict has raged for many months since the final months of 2023. There is still no end in sight because there are many injustices ongoing all across the country in areas such as Gaza and the West Bank. By failing to address the concerns of the indigenous Palestinian people, the region has failed to achieve peace. The only way to end the way is to ensure that there is a mutually agreeable end to the fight by ensuring that there is justice for all people in the country. This is because there can be no peace without justice.
Summary
This work aimed to demonstrate how there can be no peace without justice based on previous conflicts and wars. The absence of perceived justice is one of the main causes of war and conflict. It has profound impact on the overall opinions and actions taken by those who feel oppressed and unfairly treated. There is a difficult task of determining the overall how justice can be achieved especially where there are many sides to the conflict. This creates a situation where the end of a conflict may be more difficult to achieve for one side or the other. Hence, peace without justice is an illusion. Many people believe that the main path to justice is through criminal prosecution to make those responsible of committing injustices are held accountable, and that there is a precedent that can be used to resolve future conflicts.
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