Throughout the 1990s the state of Yugoslavia dissolved, ravaged by horrendous conflict. Since, several retributive and restorative mechanisms to cope with past atrocities have been attempted. In these processes social activists and civil society organizations have increasingly gained ground. Employing concepts of sociology of spaces, which focuses on the creation of spaces through action and the interdependence of action on spatial structures, I argue that activists move between different spaces constituted by narratives of justice and truth. Different NGOs across the region run trial monitoring and/or witness support programs—examples of activist involvement in legal spatiality. Recent fact-finding and documenting projects, such as the regional RECOM initiative, illustrate the creation and expansion of so-called truth spaces by activists. In the constitution phase of these spaces, i.e. the consultation meetings to establish the mandate for commissions or other investigative bodies, stakeholders (i.e. activists, practitioners, representatives and experts) rely on tangible and practicable legal instruments. A phenomenon I refer to as the legalization of truth spaces. Despite the symbiotic relationship between human rights activists and judicial practitioners this phenomenon illustrates the continuous political struggle of the former to institutionalize alternative transitional justice mechanisms. While their work focuses on personal narratives instead of grand narratives—creating a space for multiple narratives of victimhood—such a strategy bears several challenges vis-à-vis victims groups and broader reconciliatory processes.
