Post-transitional Justice: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

Transitional justice refers to the processes and mechanisms through which societies address legacies of massive human rights violations in the aftermath of transition from authoritarian rule or conflict. It encompasses a range of measures including criminal trials, truth commissions, reparations, institutional reform and memorialization designed to promote accountability, uncover the truth, encourage reconciliation and sustainable peace. The initial phase of transitional justice is often characterized by the establishment of truth commissions, tribunals, and other mechanisms for addressing the past. Much has been written on the subject of how these institutions function, what they can realistically achieve and how to improve them. However, much less attention is paid to what happens after these initial mechanisms have been implemented and the focus shifts to long-term reconciliation and the building of sustainable peace. Cath Collins calls this period “post-transitional justice” or “late transitional justice” as it occurs decades after the transition (Collins, 2010). This panel seeks to examine the late phase of transitional justice and explore the challenges and opportunities for moving forward in terms of ensuring processes of peacebuilding that promote effective and sustainable mechanisms to address post-conflict violence. It seeks to raise awareness of the late phase of transitional justice as critical for ensuring the gains of initial transitional justice mechanisms are sustained and that long-term reconciliation is achieved. By promoting a more nuanced understanding of the late transitional justice phase, this panel will contribute to ongoing efforts to address human rights violations and promote accountability in post-conflict societies. Objectives: ▪️ To explore the challenges and opportunities in the late phase of transitional justice and how they can be addressed. ▪️ To identify best practices for sustaining the gains of initial transitional justice mechanisms and promoting long-term reconciliation. ▪️ To discuss the role of different actors, including international organizations, civil society, the media, and governments, in supporting the late phase of transitional justice. The panel will consist of experienced scholars, who will bring a diversity of perspectives from countries in different regions and stages of the transitional justice process: 1. Dr. Karlos Perez Alonso De Armiño – professor at University of the Basque Country. Karlos will talk about the Colombian peace process and the contribution of the EU and the UN mission. 2. Dr. Lina Strupinskiene – associate professor at Vilnius University. Lina will focus on the life after conviction at the ICTY, exploring the perpetrator support networks that emerged across the former Yugoslav states. 3. Dr. Senka Neuman-Stanivukovic – assistant professor at University of Groningen. Senka will focus on the infrastructural ruins and material afterlives of humanitarian practices in the Balkans, addressing the connections between post-war reconciliation and post-war reconstruction through an infrastructural perspective. 4. Dr. Daniela Nascimento – associate professor at University of Coimbra and Dr. José Manuel Pureza, full professor at University of Coimbra. Daniela and José Manuel will bring a critical perspective on humanitarianism, mostly focusing on how humanitarianism has become a tool for global interventionist practices and how this has undermined the purpose of humanitarian action.

Title	Details
Life After Conviction at the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia: Perpetrator Support Networks	View Paper Details
Critical perspective on humanitarianism	View Paper Details