From Colombia to the Democratic Republic of Congo: exploring the untapped potential of restorative justice. A response to Annette Pearson

This is a response to the notes from the field: ‘Is restorative justice a piece in the Colombian transitional justice puzzle?’. In these notes Annette Pearson, looking at Colombia, asks a very valid question regarding the potential role that restorative justice can play in the Colombian transitional justice process. As an African specialist, when I was asked to write a response to Annette’s field notes, I was unsure about how my knowledge and experience of African conflicts and peace processes could be relevant to the Colombian context. Yet, reading the notes made me reflect on my recent work on transitional justice in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The complexity, messiness, fragmentation and politicisation of the Columbian process are also all too familiar. In this response, I will share some insights from the DRC context that draw on similar issues raised by Annette. In line with Annette Pearson’s notes I believe that restorative justice can similarly be a piece of the Congolese transitional justice puzzle. Publisher Statement: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Restorative Justice on 10th August 2017, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/20504721.2017.1339951