In February 2001, a trans-disciplinary research group was created at CERI on the research theme ‘Making Peace’: From Mass Crime to Peacebuilding.

It was co-led by Dr. Béatrice Pouligny and Dr. Jacques Sémelin.

During this initial brainstorming phase (2001-2002), CERI created a space in which political scientists, sociologists, historians, anthropologists, lawyers and psychiatrists could reflect together upon the issues faced in such situations. The group’s sessions were also open to practitioners, both military and humanitarian.

The group’s main objective was to facilitate a comparative and trans-disciplinary reflection on processes of extreme violence and perspectives to build peace in countries where such mass crimes have been committed.

Twenty-three papers were presented and discussed. Substantive reports of each session have been circulated and posted on a website. In addition to the core group of scholars and practitioners who gathered on a regular basis, a network of about one hundred individuals around the world was constituted. Exchanges were enlarged to field teams in different countries.

Click on the links below to access the report of each session (available only in French):

- Presentation of the program: objectives and methods
- Researching and intervening in ‘mass crime’ situations: ethical challenges
- Histories and memories of massacres
- Ideologies and imaginaries: before and after
- Social links, mass violence, and peacebuilding
- Perpetrators / Victims: a trans-disciplinary general approach
- Perpetrators / Victims: profiles and trajectories of individuals serving in militias
- Perpetrators / Victims: the specific situation of ‘child soldiers’