Hybridity in Transitional Justice: Religious NGOs as Intermediaries between International Norms and Locally based Religious Communities

The legalist orientation of Transitional Justice (TJ) has been widely criticized and concepts of restorative justice or local and traditional forms of justice have become more prominent. This has led to scholars theorizing the interrelation of the global and the local in TJ. At the same time, research on religious actors in TJ has been highlighting the reconciliatory potential of religious actors at the local/national level. My paper brings these debates to a new level by investigating religious actors in the international discourse on TJ. I analyze the role of religious nongovernmental organizations (RNGOs) working on the establishment and progression of the International Criminal Court (ICC). I investigate the stance of international RNGOs concerning the relation of accountability and reconciliation. Using the example of international RNGOs operating at the international (ICC-) level as well as locally in TJ processes in Kenya and Uganda, this paper argues that RNGOs represent a specific type of NGO because they function as intermediaries between locally based religious communities and an internationally operating professionalized NGO community. This hybridity of RNGOs offers new insights to ongoing debates on hybridity in TJ. The study is based on an indepth case comparison of four international RNGOs: Catholic Justice and Peace Commission, Mennonite Central Committee, Religions for Peace and the World Council of Churches. I draw upon empirical data from extensive fieldwork in New York, the Hague, Uganda and Kenya where I conducted interviews with religious and non-religious actors active around the ICC.