At the beginning of the 21st century, Algeria, Morocco, and the current North Sudan put in place policies of compensation, called "reconciliation" in the first two countries and "pacification" in the latter. Following policy developments throughout the late 1990s and 2000s, Algeria implemented the measures of the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation in 2005 to settle the accounts of a murderous decade (1990s) marked by opposition between the state and armed Islamic groups. In Morocco, an Arbitration Committee (1999) and then the Equity and Reconciliation Commission (2004) were set up to turn the page on the period of the “lead years,” the reign of Hassan II, during which state crimes were committed, including torture, imprisonment, and assassination. Finally, in Northern Sudan, peace negotiations were held in 1989 and have been ongoing since 2005 to put an end to the violent conflicts and war crimes shaking Darfur and North Kordofan. At the center of these reconciliation and pacification mechanisms is one practice: (monetary) compensation for the crimes committed. Shedding light on this under-studied topic from the North African field, this volume investigates: What meanings can compensation have when it is aimed at repairing crimes? Is it necessary, sufficient, or admissible? How can it be implemented and accepted by the victims themselves and by society? These questions about compensation lead the reader through discussions on the nature of crime, punishment, reparation, reconciliation, and the way these concepts were and are now understood in these three North African countries.weiterlesen