This project will provide fresh perspectives on access to justice in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), where human rights litigation must often take place across the border in Israeli courts. The project asks how this cross-border dynamic - with intersecting legal regimes defined by space and personal status - affects rule of law outcomes. The project will focus on cases of a cross-border nature, such as family reunification petitions for Palestinian families on both sides of the border, or confiscation of property in occupied east Jerusalem belonging to Palestinians living elsewhere in the West Bank. Methods will include analysis of case law, statutes, and regulations in various Israeli civilian and military courts and interviews with legal practitioners. The project will develop a tool for new evidence-based insights in the form of a research blog that will excerpt, translate, and analyze important legal materials - many of which have never been translated from Hebrew. The blog will also serve to catalyze discussions among stakeholders by inviting contributions from the community of human rights practitioners working on the oPt. Finally, a set of workshops for researchers and practitioners will act to crystallize and extend the online conversation started by the blog.

The Syrian conflict has been described as the worst humanitarian catastrophe in the twenty-first century. Since most of the media attention is on the armed actors, in particular on extremist groups, those involved in peacebuilding and statebuilding have attracted far less attention. Contrary to popular discourse, areas under the control of opposition groups are not in an anarchic state of affairs, but governance structures are created that will be vital in any future peacebuilding and statebuilding initiative. Therefore, through a participatory research methodology including data collection inside Syria, we wish to analyse governance mechanisms in opposition-held areas and how their legitimacy is perceived on the ground in order to generate evidence-based and easily applicable knowledge on the nature, opportunities, challenges and gaps in peacebuilding and statebuilding in Syria. This project is submitted by swisspeace and LACU, with Leila Hilal as an independent researcher. Swisspeace is a practice-oriented research institute associated with the University of Basel and with longstanding experience in conducting research in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. LACU has extensive experience in local governance and is directly involved in policy and practice of security and rule of law within Syria. Leila Hilal is a renowned expert on the Syrian context.

Post-conflict contexts require unique strategies for promoting womens leadership. Lessons from Ba Futurus programs on womens empowerment in Timor-Leste suggest that leadership training alone is not sufficient: program participants and project staff identified that individual and group mentoring, and peer and community support, are essential pillars for sustaining womens leadership. Women Thrive Worldwide and Ba Futuru will collaborate on this action research to assess how these pillars may be combined to form an Integrated Support Network model (ISN) that creates an enabling environment conducive to maintaining womens leadership in post-conflict settings. Research results will be used to design an implementable model for practitioners. Research activities include: - A literature review on best practices for mentoring and networking programs; - Key informant interviews with Timorese female leaders in politics, civil society and communities; - Focus groups with female leaders and representatives of organizations implementing women?s leadership programs in Timor-Leste; and, - A model design workshop. Outputs of this research will: (a) Provide evidence on the feasibility of the ISN model as a tool to promote womens leadership in security and rule of law in Timor-Leste; (b) Develop a new model for womens sustainable leadership in post-conflict settings for adaption and replication.

With the deadly and destructive conflict in Syria pushing into its fourth year, the number of Syrian refugees reached 2.5 million, most of which have located themselves in nearby Lebanon. In fact, according to the latest UNHCR reports, Lebanon now hosts a million refugees. This refugee crisis has hit Lebanon as it battles with its own internal security and weak governance issues. Lebanon is still struggling with the state-building process that was launched at the end of its civil war, more than 20 years ago. A Syrian component was always present in the Lebanese social tissue through economic, commercial and political ties, but with the large influx of this distressed population into its territory, Lebanese authorities have been overwhelmed by the situation and have failed to offer even minimum protection standards to those fleeing the conflict in Syria. No comprehensive response plan to this crisis was designed, but instead, local communities have been called on to shoulder the additional burden on host areas, which has weighed on them both from a security and a socio-economic perspective. While of the refugee population in Lebanon is ever-growing in size, these vulnerable groups fleeing the combat zones benefit from little protection as they land in different parts of the country (mainly the North and the Bekaa). As such, the research issue the CISH is proposing to address is the Syrian refugees access to justice in Lebanon, whether through the formal justice system or through informal mechanisms set up by local communities and other stakeholders this project offers to identify. From deportation, to torture, to arbitrary curfews and arrests and false accusations, to direct assault against them or their habitat, Syrian refugees are enduring difficult ordeals, as the Lebanese social and political representatives are being increasingly vocal on the undesirability of these groups in Lebanon. The Maronite Patriarch recent open call for the reestablishment of Syrian refugees out of Lebanon and into refugee camps in Syria amply illustrates growing resentment of key figures in the Lebanese establishment. The research offers to look into the relationship between these vulnerable groups and the Justice system in Lebanon in this increasingly hostile environment and to offer elements of comparison with other contexts nearby like the Turkish model and how it has been dealing with this issue since the outbreak of violence in Syria.

This research project investigates the intersections between transitional justice and justice reform, and formal and informal justice mechanisms. The rationale for this is that 1) transitional justice and justice reform are intrinsically linked, and 2) both formal and informal justice mechanisms play a role in justice provision both for transitional justice and justice provision general. Addressing both transitional justice and justice reform is considered paramount for dealing with South Sudans past and current crisis, and for contributing to South Sudans future stability. The project thereby directly addresses demands of local practitioners in South Sudan, and of the SSLS as co-applicant in particular. The aim is to identify opportunities for enhancing justice provision from a peoples perspective, and to promote changes in policy and practice accordingly. To this end the project addresses the following two main research questions: 1. What existing and potential opportunities for truth, justice and reconciliation can be identified in South Sudan with regard to the past and present crises? 2. What are the strengths, weaknesses and interrelationships of different formal and informal justice systems, and what opportunities for reform can be identified in order to bring justice services into greater conformity with user needs? To answer these questions, an analytical instrument will be developed for identifying people-centred opportunities for justice reform and reconciliation. The project includes a variety of methods (quantitative surveys, workshops, interviews, authority mapping, dispute tracking, case mapping, document review) and knowledge sharing activities (reports, presentations, online interactive maps, workshops, lobbying, legislative drafting).