Diaspora Mobilisation for Transitional Justice in the Context of Syria: Spaces, Temporalities and Agenda-Setting

This paper proposes to analyse how forced displacement and ongoing political violence shapes mobilisations for transitional justice and for the right to truth in the context of Syria. It draws from qualitative research conducted in Lebanon and Germany between the end of 2018 and early 2020, including 70 interviews with Syrian refugees, and 20 interviews with civil society actors mobilizing for transitional justice. The data from these in depth interviews is put into context through a qualitative analysis of ongoing discussions on transitional justice regarding Syria taking place on social media in the transnational, digital space. This paper shows how the spaces that are inhabited by the conflict-generated diaspora and refugee community shape priorities in the engagements in, and mobilizations for, transitional justice – for instance through the political environments in the host country or the existing social and political relations to the home country. It also reflects on how subjective temporalities of peace, war and violence, and specific experiences of harm such as enforced disappearances and political detention, shape discussions on sequencing and agenda-setting for transitional justice mobilization in the context of Syria.