Janine di Giovanni is executive director at The Reckoning Project and a columnist for The National
February 19, 2024
Recently, I was part of a panel of practitioners and experts at Columbia University’s School of Journalism discussing how reporters can best tell their stories after wars end. Reporting post-war is a topic that is rarely covered, but it should be mandatory in newsrooms and universities. Least of all because of the explosion in dangerous conflicts around the world.
Post-war is a particularly delicate time. When the bullets stop, the trauma does not. Often, it can go on for generations, in what is known as trans-generational trauma. The cases of victims of the Holocaust or the Palestinian Nakba are examples of trauma sifting down through decades. Like war reporting – which requires specific skills, reporting on post-war situations, once the treaties are signed and the soldiers are demobilised, is equally important.
I have reported more than 18 wars, sometimes watching them from their beginning to their end, their cycles and their agony. All wars are debilitating and painful, each in their own way. But there are consistent patterns – wars can either end badly or end better. Ending better means that the peace deals don’t reward the perpetrators of violent crimes (as in the case of the Bosnian war, which ended in 1995) and ensures that justice will be delivered. Without justice, vengeance will come back in a few decades’ time in the form of another war.
Family photographs of some of those who died, at an exhibition at the Kigali Genocide Memorial centre in the Rwandan capital. AP
Because I now run a war crimes unit in Ukraine, my focus is on justice delivered to victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Unless this kind of justice is given, there will never be a cycle of healing. Taking testimonies from witnesses – which is what my team at The Reckoning Project does – is a way to ensure that their voices will be heard and taken to a higher level, either at domestic or international courts of justice. People want to talk because they don’t want what happened to them or to their loved ones to be erased. Memorialisation of their stories is also important because it keeps history in the wider public imagination.
Memorialisation can be achieved through art (plays, literature, visual arts or poetry) or physical structures such as Baba Yar, a ravine in Kyiv, Ukraine, the site of where Nazi atrocities in 1941 killed more than 33,000 Jews.
A funeral in Bucha, near Kyiv, Ukraine. AP
In Kigali, after the genocide of a million Tutsis in 1994, more than 250,000 victims are laid to rest – a permanent way of educating people about how the genocide took shape. It is a moving remembrance of terrible days, but also a way of never letting people forget. It ensures a kind of healing – a driver towards reconciliation, a journey that has taken Rwanda decades.
In eastern Bosnia, in a rolling green village where unspeakable acts happened decades ago, there is the Srebrenica memorial. In July 1995, 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed by Bosnian Serbs. There are the graves of some of the dead (if their bones were recovered from the mass graves) but also rooms where their personal stories are told. It ensures the story of what happened when the country descended into a brutal war might never happen again.
There is sometimes resistance to transitional justice – which provides recognition to victims and returns trust to state institutions. It is meant to reinforce respect for human rights and rule of law, but sometimes countries and communities are not ready for it. In Ukraine today, it is painful to speak of what the war might look like when it ends because the country is intent on restoring full territorial integrity for the Ukrainian lands that have been occupied by Russia. They want the war to end – they are suffering. But not without their land returned.
Arab refugees on the road to Lebanon after fleeing their homes in Palestine in November 1948. AP
Last month, Ukrainian officials laid out their peace plans to allied national security advisors ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos. They had met a few months earlier in Malta. They hoped to win over their international partners to support their “10-part peace plan” to end the hostilities. But most military experts said Kyiv is nowhere near ready for peace talks, and Russia disregarded the plan, saying it was counterproductive.
Weeks later, things look very different with Donald Trump rising in the American polls, and promising if he is elected there will be no help for Ukraine. Congress has been stalled for Ukrainian aid for some time. Naturally, this is worrying for European leaders who might be left to support Kyiv alone. Ukraine is not doing well on the battlefield – the counter-offensives last summer were disappointing and governments never want to go into negotiations without having an upper hand in the conflict.
Even if military aid ends, there will have to be a diplomatic solution eventually. Both Russia and Ukraine say they want the war to end, but both only want the end on their terms. Neither side is likely to abandon its so-called "red lines". The end of the war seems far in the future, protracted and painful.
But still, there are ways to begin to look at how the communities might heal once the war does end. Voices will need to be heard, justice will have to be served, communities that were divided will have to be brought together. In Bosnia, schools with two languages under one roof – Bosnian and Serbian – were built after the war ended. In Rwanda, some Hutu families adopted Tutsi orphans. Perhaps we need to project ahead to what a peaceful future might look like and ways to achieve that.
Since the end of the First World War, there have been about 260 armed conflicts in the world. Aside from Gaza, Ukraine and the wider Middle East War, the International Crisis Group, which issues its yearly “conflicts to watch”, warns of wars in Sudan, Myanmar, the Sahel, Haiti and elsewhere. We would be wise to think of how we respond when these wars end – how to put together the pieces of broken lives and broken countries. Without that kind of healing, the wars will inevitably return.
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side 8 There are eight players per team 9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one. 5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls 4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
Mr Al Qassimi is 37 and lives in Dubai
He is a keen drummer and loves gardening
His favourite way to unwind is spending time with his two children and cooking
Know your Camel lingo
The bairaq is a competition for the best herd of 50 camels, named for the banner its winner takes home
Namoos - a word of congratulations reserved for falconry competitions, camel races and camel pageants. It best translates as 'the pride of victory' - and for competitors, it is priceless
Majahim - chocolate-brown camels that can grow to weigh two tonnes. They were only valued for milk until camel pageantry took off in the 1990s
Millions Street - the thoroughfare where camels are led and where white 4x4s throng throughout the festival
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023 More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
The specs
Engine: Two permanent-magnet synchronous AC motors
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh with a stop in Yangon from Dh3,075, and Etihad flies from Abu Dhabi to Phnom Penh with its partner Bangkok Airlines from Dh2,763. These trips take about nine hours each and both include taxes. From there, a road transfer takes at least four hours; airlines including KC Airlines (www.kcairlines.com) offer quick connecting flights from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville from about $100 (Dh367) return including taxes. Air Asia, Malindo Air and Malaysian Airlines fly direct from Kuala Lumpur to Sihanoukville from $54 each way. Next year, direct flights are due to launch between Bangkok and Sihanoukville, which will cut the journey time by a third.
