scholarly journals Local Uses of International Criminal Justice in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Transcending Divisions or Building Parallel Worlds?

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dejan Guzina ◽  
Branka Marijan
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
The Past ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Limited Success ◽  
Fertile Ground ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
The Relationship

Transitionaljustice mechanisms and the International Criminal Tribunal for the FormerYugoslavia (ICTY) have had only a limited success in overcoming ethnic divisionsin Bosnia-Herzegovina. Rather than elaborating upon the role of local politicalelites in perpetuating ethnic divisions, we examine ordinary peoples’ popularperceptions of war and its aftermath. In our view, the idea that elites havecomplete control over the broader narratives about the past is misplaced. Weargue that transitional justice and peace mechanisms supported by externalactors are always interpreted on the ground in context-specific ways, creatingdifferent citizens’ experiences, “memories” of the war, and their respectivehopes and disappointments in regards to the relationship between peace andjustice in Bosnia. We suggest that analyses of the post-conflict developments inBosnia-Herzegovina must take into account what gives the narratives ofexclusion their power, and what are the objective political, social andeconomic constraints that continue to provide a fertile ground for theirwidespread support.

Memory at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 270-287
Author(s):  
Kristen Perrin
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Narrative Control ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship

Scrutiny of the legal elements of international criminal tribunals such as the ICTY are frequent and important, but this article suggests that new avenues need to be taken in order to truly understand what is taking place within the courtroom sociologically. Embedded within courtroom interactions are symbolic exchanges that can stand as both reflections of and implications for the success or failure of transitional justice as a tool to promote community understanding post-conflict. Using a mixture of social psychology and cognitive linguistics, this article examines the significance of in-court references to memory, theorising that the concepts of remembering and forgetting as discussed in transcripts reveal greater struggles between the witnesses and the court over narrative control. This ultimately raises questions about the nature of the relationship between international legal bodies and the individual victim-witness, and demonstrates that there are failings occurring here that could make processes of reconciliation and community healing more difficult.

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guy Beiner
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
The Political ◽  
History And Memory ◽  
The Past ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Relationship

An understanding of the historical dynamics of social forgetting can be learned from the detailed case study of the vernacular historiography of the 1798 Rebellion in Ulster. It has far-reaching implications for a more meaningful appreciation of the relationship between history and memory. The political impasse in post-conflict Northern Ireland, which has stumbled over disagreements on ‘dealing with the past’ in the context of finding acceptable arrangements for transitional justice, could benefit from showing more sensitivity, not only to the role of oral history storytelling, but also to ingrained traditions of ‘vernacular silence’ that perpetuate social forgetting. A brief inspection of some prominent twentieth-century examples demonstrates the wider relevance of studying social forgetting. In today’s digital age, explorations of social forgetting suggest new possibilities for reconciling conflicts between an inner duty to remember and the right to be outwardly forgotten.

scholarly journals Restoring justice in Serbia: Reconciliation and restorative justice in a post-war context

Temida ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Parmentier ◽  
Marta Valiñas ◽  
Elmar Weitekamp
Keyword(s):  
Restorative Justice ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Research Team ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Population Based ◽  
The Past ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Post War ◽  
Political Economic

The debate on how to deal with the past in Serbia is an ongoing one. Both the International Criminal Tribunal for ex-Yugoslavia and national criminal justice mechanisms have played an important role in prosecuting offenders. Other transitional justice approaches continue to be discussed. All in all, the Yugoslav and the Serbian cases are similar to other debates about 'dealing with the past' or 'transitional justice', as they are taking place between elites, political, economic, and within civil society, both in the country concerned and at the international level. Likewise the views and expectations of the local populations in any given country are very rarely taken into account. In this paper findings of a population-based research carried out by our research team in Serbia in 2007 are presented. The research was done by means of a quantitative survey across the country on several issues of post-conflict justice, including truth seeking, accountability, reparation for victims and reconciliation.

Transitional Justice, Truth and Reconciliation: An Under-Explored Relationship

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janine Natalya Clark
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Criminal Trials ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commissions ◽  
Conflict Reconciliation

AbstractMuch of the literature on transitional justice suffers from a critical impact gap, which scholars are only now beginning to address. One particular manifestation of this aforementioned gap, and one which forms the particular focus of this article, is the frequently-cited yet empirically under-researched claim that "truth" fosters post-conflict reconciliation. Theoretically and empirically critiquing this argument, this article both questions the comprehensiveness of truth established through criminal trials and truth and reconciliation commissions (TRCs) and underscores the often overlooked problem of denial, thus raising fundamental questions about the reputed healing properties of truth in such contexts. Advocating the case for evidence-based transitional justice, it reflects upon empirical research on South Africa's TRC and the author's own work on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Towards Restorative Sentencing in International Criminal Trials

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 809-832 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph Henham
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Judicial Discretion ◽  
Discretionary Power ◽  
Criminal Trials ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Trial Outcomes ◽  
Trial Structure ◽  
International Criminal Trials

AbstractThis article considers how sentencing might be re-conceptualised if restorative justice became a more integral part of the rationale for international criminal trials. More specifically, it focuses on issues of admissibility and proof; trial structure; procedural justice; the role of victims and trial professionals, and the role of judicial discretionary power in sentencing decisions. The paper concludes by suggesting that change is possible by utilising judicial discretion as a force for developing more restorative trial outcomes and dealing effectively with inconsistency, appeal and the enforcement of sentences. More broadly, such changes should be seen as an opportunity for international trial outcomes to engage more directly with the challenges of facilitating transitional justice in post-conflict states.

scholarly journals 17. Criminology and transitional justice

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kieran McEvoy ◽  
Ron Dudai ◽  
Cheryl Lawther
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
Restorative Justice ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Critical Discussion ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The Social ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter explores the intersection between criminology and transitional justice. The chapter begins with a critical discussion on the utility of criminological scholarship from settled democracies to the exceptional circumstances of post-conflict or post-authoritarian societies. It then explores a range of debates related to the punishment of offenders in such contexts including the role of prosecutions, amnesties, the reintegration of former combatants, and the role of restorative justice. The chapter next considers the social and political construction of victimhood in transitional contexts including competing notions of the ‘idealized’ victim. The relationship between transitional justice and social control is then examined including the importance of countering denial, the relationship between deviance and memory and the particular contribution of efforts ‘from below’ to counter elites-level narratives on past abuses. The chapter concludes that a criminology of transitional justice provides the basis for revisiting some of the foundational questions on responding to crime and justice in the most challenging of settings—a sobering but intellectually rich research agenda for years to come.

Narratives of Justice and War in Croatia

2020 ◽  
pp. 445-461
Author(s):  
Ivor Sokolić
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
War Narrative ◽  
Human Rights Norms ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Self Defence

This chapter examines the relationship between war and justice narratives in Croatia, based on focus groups, dyads, and interviews conducted in 2014 and 2015. The war narrative is based on a pervasive conception of self-defence against a larger Serbian aggressor. It contrasts with a justice narrative that is focused on the norms of transitional justice and the expressivist effects of trials. The two narratives exist in the same space and interact with each other. This chapter outlines these narratives and analyses their reproduction. It argues that the emotional war narrative’s strength makes it difficult for the justice narrative to take hold and, consequently, for the trickle-down expressivist effects of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and human rights norms to occur. This tolerance for deviance was based on notions of legality that were defined differently in relation to Croats and Serbs.

scholarly journals The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia: The Promise and Reality of Reconciliation in Croatia

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Parker
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Local Level ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
International Community ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
State And Local

The international community is increasingly interested in promoting post-conflict reconciliation in a variety of forms, with trials and truth commissions featured most prominently. The contemporary academic discussion over transitional justice (and the practice of transitional justice itself) is largely focused on whether and how these types of large-scale national transitional justice mechanisms contribute to reconciliation. This article examines the promise and reality of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to contribute to national reconciliation. Ultimately, the ability of state-wide policies to contribute to reconciliation rests on the active participation of local level actors. This requires political backing at the state and local level beyond that of just the international community. More attention needs to be paid to domestic cultural factors in the initial decision to implement state-wide transitional justice procedures, and bottom-up mechanisms must be built into any large scale approach to reconciliation.

Ch.One Foundations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Werle Gerhard ◽  
Jeßberger Florian
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Peace Treaty ◽  
International Legal Order ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter sets down the legal and historical foundations of international criminal law. It begins with a brief overview of the history of international criminal law, beginning with the 1919 Versailles Peace Treaty and ending with the developments after the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Statute. From there, the chapter discusses the concepts, aim, and legitimacy of international criminal law before turning to the role of international criminal law within the international legal order. Afterward, the chapter turns to the sources and interpretation of international criminal law as well as universal jurisdiction, the duty to prosecute, and transitional justice. Next, the chapter considers the relationship between international and domestic courts as well as the prosecution of international crimes under international law by international and ‘internationalised’ courts. Finally, this chapter closes with a discussion on international criminal law in practice.

Individuals Accused of International Crimes as Delegitimized Agents of Truth

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 291-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mina Rauschenbach
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Trials ◽  
International Crimes ◽  
The Past ◽  
Concept Of Truth ◽  
International Criminal Trials

The workings of international criminal trials situate themselves in an era where the concept of truth is heralded as a key aspect in the production of understandings of the past within transitional justice (TJ) settings. Yet, in such contexts where representations of the past are multilayered, trials tend to put to the fore certain narratives as legitimate readings, while excluding many others. This article explores the discourses of 18 individuals accused by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). It focuses on their role as generally delegitimized agents of truth and analyzes how they reconstruct their justice experience, focusing particularly on how they make sense of the judicial truths stemming from their case. It reveals how they reconstruct the ICTY as a hegemonic arena which produces judicial truths, which cannot be considered as legitimate and complete accounts of the past and which are at odds with their authoritative perspective of the “truth.” These findings are analyzed against the backdrop of increasing scholarly debates about the legitimacy, which can be attributed to perpetrators’ perspectives given the tendency, within TJ discourses and practices, to position international criminal justice as a universal and authoritative arbitrator of morality in conflict.

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