Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 February 2020
This article maps out the landscape holding and connecting three interrelated phenomena: art, international criminal justice, and reconciliation. We argue that reconciliation, viewed as a restoration process, is one of the goals of international criminal justice. Yet, its attainment through law is challenging because international criminal justice, strictly construed, is outcome oriented. Art can serve as a ‘bridge’ linking normative legal standards with their reconciliatory aspirations. The key argument is therefore that art has the clear ability to mediate and amplify the law’s restorative potential through three key features. Firstly, art reflects the complexity of the human condition and reserves a place for emotional processing. Secondly, it is a useful relational tool in opening the space for dialogue, the latter being essential for reconciliation. Lastly, art has the capacity to translate legalistic findings into a language accessible to a wider audience.
1 See Preamble to the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court; UN Doc. S/RES/827 (1993); UN Doc. S/RES/955 (1994); Duthie, R., ‘Introduction’, in Duthie, R. and Seils, P. (eds.), Justice Mosaics: How Context Shapes Transitional Justice in Fractured Societies (2017), 8Google Scholar, at 11; Teitel, R., Transitional Justice (2010), 51Google Scholar.
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3 UN Doc. S/RES/827 (1993); UN Doc. S/RES/955 (1994); Report of the UN Secretary-General, para. 38.
4 Prosecutor v. Kamuhanda, Judgement, Case No. ICTR-95-54A-T, T. Ch. II, 22 January 2004, para. 753; Prosecutor v. Momir Nikolić, Sentencing Judgement, Case No. IT-02-60/1-S, T. Ch. I, 2 December 2003, para. 93.
6 ICTY, ‘Message by Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald on the Occasion of the Final ICTY Symposium’, 18 December 2017, available at www.icty.org/x/file/Press/Events/2017/171221-legacy-symposium-kirk-mc-donald-statement.pdf.
7 Bloomfield, Barnes and Stahn, supra note 2, at 12.
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16 Ibid.
17 Report of the Secretary-General, The Rule of Law and Transitional Justice in Conflict and Post-Conflict Societies, UN Doc. S/2004/616 (2004), available at www.un.org/ruleoflaw/files/2004%20report.pdf.
18 For a comprehensive treatment see R. Teitel, Transitional Justice (2010).
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20 C. Ramirez-Barat, ‘Introduction: Transitional Justice and the Public Sphere’, in C. Ramirez-Barat (ed.), supra note 14, 26, at 27.
21 P. de Greiff, ‘On Making the Invisible Visible: The Role of Cultural Interventions in Transitional Justice Processes’, in C. Ramirez-Barat (ed.), ibid., 10, at 13.
22 Teitel, supra note 18, at 33.
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34 Mégret notes that the ‘sites of consciousness’ (commemoration sites) are not simply a product but a process of coming to terms with the past. See Mégret, supra note 25, at 20.
35 Shnabel and Nadler, supra note 8, at 129.
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38 Stepakoff, supra note 29, at 400. To that effect Olivera Simic and Dijana Miloševic reflect on the role of the theatre in reconciliation: ‘For victims and survivors, the play offers the direct possibility of healing: seeing and hearing the stories becomes a public acknowledgement of the often unacknowledged and therefore dangerously invisible, crimes.’ See O. Simic and D. Miloševic, ‘Enacting Justice: The Role of Dah Theatre Company’, in Rush and Simić (eds.) supra note 14, 99, at 107.
39 Brinck, supra note 32, at 201.
40 Ornstein, supra note 33.
41 Stepakoff, supra note 29.
42 Ornstein, supra note 33. See also C. Ramirez-Barat, ‘Transitional Justice and the Public Sphere’, in C. Ramirez-Barat (ed.), supra note 14, 27, at 39.
43 Rosoux, supra note 9, at 25.
44 D. Taylor, The Archive and the Repertoire: Performing Cultural Memory in the Americas (2003), 2 (as cited in N. Siddiqui and H. J. Joffre-Eichhorn, ‘From Tears to Energy: Early Uses of Participatory Theater in Afghanistan’, in C. Ramírez-Barat (ed.) supra note 14, 369, at 370); See also N. Siddiqui, H. Marifat and S. Kouvo, ‘Culture, Theatre and Justice: Examples from Afghanistan’, in Rush and Simić (eds.), supra note 14, at 113.
45 See P. McAuliffe, ‘Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden as a Mirror Reflecting the Dilemmas of Transitional Justice Policy’, in Rush and Simić (eds.), supra note 14, at 81.
46 Koch, S., ‘Arts and Health: Active Factors and a Theory Framework of Embodied Aesthetics’, (2017) 54 Arts in Psychotherapy 85CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 88.
47 N. Siddiqui and H. J. Joffre-Eichhorn, ‘From Tears to Energy: Early Uses of Participatory Theater in Afghanistan’, in C. Ramírez-Barat (ed.) supra note 14, 369, at 374.
48 Ibid.
49 Stepakoff, supra note 29, at 402.
50 Koch, supra note 46.
51 Bell, supra note 12, at 38.
52 Brinck, supra note 32, at 202.
53 Ibid.
54 Ibid.
55 Adorno, supra note 26, at 8.
56 See also C. Ramirez-Barat, ‘Transitional Justice and the Public Sphere’, in C. Ramirez-Barat (ed.), supra note 14, at 30.
57 Ibid.
58 Ibid., at 225–6.
59 Mani, supra note 11, at 546.
60 Koch, supra note 46.
61 For more information see www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/global-contemporary/v/mayalin-vietnamvetmem.
62 Atkinson-Phillips, A., ‘On Being Moved: Art, Affect and Activation in Public Commemorations of Trauma’, (2018) 2 Journal of Media and Cultural Studies 381CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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64 Ibid., at 253.
65 Ibid.; Pablo de Greiff argues that interpreting art allows for a possibility to enlarge someone’s perspective and generate the sensibility that paves the way for changes. See de Greiff, supra note 21, at 17.
66 Bal, supra note 63, at 237.
67 Atkinson-Phillips, supra note 62, at 384.
68 Cehajic-Clancy, S. and Bilewicz, M., ‘Fostering Reconciliation Through Historical Moral Exemplars in a Postconflict Society’, (2017) 3 Journal of Peace Psychology 288CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 289.
69 Atkinson-Phillips, supra note 62, at 382.
70 Stevens, Q. and Franck, K., Memorials as Spaces of Engagement (2015), 5CrossRefGoogle Scholar; see also F. Mégret, supra note 25, who calls such spaces ‘sites of conscience’.
71 Atkinson-Phillips, supra note 62, at 382.
72 Prosecutor v. Lubanga, Order for Reparations, ICC-01/04-01/06-3129-AnxA, A. Ch., 3 March 2015, para. 46.
73 Cited in The Prosecutor v. Lubanga, Filing regarding symbolic collective reparations projects, ICC-01/04-01/06, T. Ch. II, 19 September 2016, para. 10.
74 Ibid., para. 23.
75 Ibid., para. 41.
76 Ibid., para. 35. For more on art and reparations see M. Aksenova, ‘Art in the Practice of Reparations at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the International Criminal Court’, (2020) 43 Suffolk Journal of Transnational Law (forthcoming).
77 Prosecutor v. Lubanga, Order approving the proposed plan of the Trust Fund for Victims in relation to symbolic collective reparations, ICC-01/04-01/06, T. Ch. II, 21 October 2016, paras. 17, 63.
78 Prosecutor v. Lubanga, Fifth progress report on the implementation of collective reparations as per Trial Chamber II’s orders of 21 October 2016 and 6 April 2017, ICC-01/04-01/06, T. Ch. II, 2 October 2018.
79 Eliza Garnsey duly notes that the question of agency is complex when it comes to exploring the connection between art and transitional justice. See Garnsey, supra note 14, at 474.
80 Mégret, supra note 25, at 5.
81 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Art. 75(1).
82 Prosecutor v. Katanga, Order for Reparations Pursuant to Article 75 of the Statute, ICC 01/04-01/07, T. Ch. II, 24 March 2017, para. 297; see also Minow, supra note 13, at 23.
83 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Art. 75(2).
84 Ibid., Art. 79.
85 Mégret, supra note 25, at 10.
86 Ibid., at 13.
87 ICC Assembly of States Parties, Resolution ICC-ASP/4/Res.3, 3 December 2005, para. 50(a)(i), available at www.icc-cpi.int/NR/rdonlyres/0CE5967F-EADC-44C9-8CCA-7A7E9AC89C30/140126/ICCASP432Res3_English.pdf. See also Mégret, supra note 25, at 14.
88 Stepakoff, supra note 29, at 400; Simic and Miloševic, ‘Enacting Justice: The Role of Dah Theatre Company’, in Rush and Simić (eds.), supra note 14, 99, at 107.
89 Prosecutor v. Kaing Guek Eav alias Duch, Trial Judgment, Case No. 001/18-07-2007/ECCC/TC, T. Ch., 20 March 2012 (‘Duch Trial Judgment’), para. 660.
90 Case 002/02, Civil Party Lead Co-Lawyers Final Claim for Reparation, Case No. 002/19-09-2007-ECCC/TC, T. Ch., 30 May 2017, para. 30; Case 002/02, Summary Judgement, Case No. 002/19-09-2007-ECCC/TC, T. Ch., 16 November 2018, para. 66.
91 See Va Sonyka, ‘“Phka Sla” dance to help KR’s forced marriage victims heal’, Khmer Times, 17 January 2017, available at www.khmertimeskh.com/60315/phka-sla-dance-to-help-krs-forced-marriage-victims-heal/.
92 A. M. Sassoon, ‘A moving show on forced marriage’, Phnom Pehn Post, 23 January 2017, available at www.phnompenhpost.com/lifestyle/moving-show-forced-marriage.
93 Ibid.
94 Ibid.
95 Huneeus, A., ‘International Criminal Law by Other Means: The Quasi-Criminal Jurisdiction of the Human Rights Courts’, (2013) 107 AJIL 1Google Scholar, at 5; see also Askenova, supra note 76.
96 Ibid.
97 Castillo Páez v. Peru, Reparations and Costs, IACHR 8, IACHR Series C No. 43, IHRL 1426, 27 November 1998, para. 48.
98 E.g., Barrios Altos v. Peru, Judgment, IACtHR, 30 November 2001, para. 5; Mapiripán Massacre v. Colombia, Judgment, IACtHR, 15 September 2005, paras. 10–13; Moiwana Community v. Suriname, Preliminary Objections, Merits, Reparations and Costs, Judgment, IACHR Series C No. 124, 15 June 2005, paras. 2–7.
99 E.g., Cantoral Benavides v. Peru, Reparations, IACHR Series C No. 56, 29 September 1999, para. 81.
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105 Ibid.; For an analysis of the role of photography in international criminal justice see also the contribution by R. Oidtmann, ‘International Justice Through the Kaleidoscope of Photography – Thoughts on the Exhibition “Trauma, Healing and Hope” at the International Criminal Court’, ARTIJ Blog, 2 July 2019, available at artij.org/en/blog.html.
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107 Ibid., at 117.
108 Elander, supra note 24, at 150.
109 Ibid., at 157.
110 Ibid., at 159.
111 Ibid., at 165.
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113 The preamble to the peace deal speaks about the rights of victims to truth, justice, and reparation. Section 5 of the peace deal elaborates on the mechanisms whereby these goals are attained. See 2016 Acuerdo Final para la Terminación del Conflicto y la Construcción de una Paz Estable y Duradera, Section 5, available at www.altocomisionadoparalapaz.gov.co/procesos-y-conversaciones/Documentos%20compartidos/24-11-2016NuevoAcuerdoFinal.pdf.
114 2017 Law No. 1 on The Creation of The Integral System of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Non-repetition, Art. 18, available at es.presidencia.gov.co/normativa/normativa/ACTO%20LEGISLATIVO%20N%C2%B0%2001%20DE%204%20DE%20ABRIL%20DE%202017.pdf.
115 ‘Colombia’s Farc concludes weapons disarmament’, BBC News, 16 August 2017, available at www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-40944329.
116 More information is available on the website of the university at www.uwindsor.ca/dailynews/2017-10-10/putting-reconciliation-practice-aim-arts-project.
117 Information available at www.kcl.ac.uk/archive/news/warstudies/art-and-reconciliation, accessed 5 February 2020.
118 More information is available at www.artij.org.
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121 Prosecutor v. Lubanga, Filing Regarding Symbolic Collective Reparations Projects, ICC-01/04-01/06, T. Ch. II, 19 September 2016, paras. 22 et seq.
122 1995 Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act No. 34.
123 B. McIntyre, ‘Art Inspired by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’, South African History Online, 7 December 2012, available at www.sahistory.org.za/archive/art-inspired-truth-and-reconciliation-commission.
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125 Ibid.
126 Ibid.
127 Ibid., at 3.
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130 Koch, supra note 46.
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133 The image is reproduced with the permission of the rights owner. More information is available at www.studiogeorgette.com/images/shouldItestify2.htm.
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148 Ibid., at 113.
149 Ibid., at 177.
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