UN Peacekeeping and Local Rule of Law Initiatives in the Central African Republic

To strengthen the local capacity of post-conflict states, multidimensional peacekeeping operations increasingly focus on strengthening the rule of law and building sustainable peace in the mission area. Considerable success was achieved in the Central-African Republic where the UN mission MINUSCA supports the local government in establishing the Special Criminal Court and restoring other local judicial mechanisms. This paper explores how MINUSCA supported local rule of law mechanisms in the Central African Republic, and how this contributed to so-called local justice. Special attention goes out to MINUSCA's support to the CAR government in establishing the Special Criminal Court, by including the local population in doing so as well as by strengthening local ownership and knowledge on existing judicial mechanisms. In arguing that the joint effort made by UN peacekeeping troops and local actors strengthens local justice, this paper underlines the importance of tackling the war economy as an important obstacle to establishing a functional rule of law in the CAR.