This book provides a comparative analysis of the potential of restorative justice approaches to dealing with mass victimization in the context of large-scale violent conflicts focusing on case studies from Kosovo, Israel-Palestine and Congo, incorporating contributions from leading authorities in these areas. One of the main objectives of the book is to examine if, how and to what extent restorative justice is applicable in various different cultural, social and historical contexts, and what common themes can be identified within the different regions under analysis. The book will also provide a critical analysis of the UN Basic Principles on the use of restorative justice programmes in criminal matters as applied to the context of large scale violence.

Contents

Contents Acknowledgements Notes on contributors Part I – Introduction 1 Challenging restorative justice – State-based conflict, mass victimisation and the changing nature of warfare, Holger-C. Rohne, Jana Arsovska and Ivo Aertsen 2 Dealing with violent conflicts and mass victimisation. A human dignity approach, Finn Tschudi Part II – Case studies Section 1 The Kosovo conflict 3 Prologue to the Kosovo drama: origin, causes and consequences of a violent ethno-political conflict, Jana Arsovska, Marta Valiñas and Borbala Fellegi 4 Criminal judicial qualification and prosecution in the Racak case according to national and international legislation - Albanian perspective, Haki Demolli 5 Criminological views and informal responses to the Racak massacre according to the Albanian customary law and principles of international law - Albanian perspective, Rexhep Gashi 6 Potential for the use of informal mechanisms and responses to the Kosovo conflict - Serbian perspective, Vesna Nikolic-Ristanovic 7 A restorative approach for dealing with the aftermath of the Kosovo conflict – Opportunities and Limits, Marta Valiñas and Jana Arsovska S – The Israeli-Palestinian conflict 8 The Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the second intifada – A cycle of violence, Holger-C. Rohne 9 Courting the Intifada: discussing legal perspectives, Khalid Ghanayim 10 Israeli-Jewish cultural aspects of an event of violence: between biblical codes and Zionist ideology - Israeli perspective, Michal Alberstein 11 Cultural aspects in responding to violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - Palestinian perspective, George Irani 12 Opportunities and limits for applying restorative justice in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Holger-C. Rohne Section 3 – The conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo 13 The conflict in the DRC: a story of failed transitions and interlocking conflicts, Tyrone Savage and Kris Vanspauwen 14 Decayed, decimated, usurped and inadequate: the challenge of finding justice through formal mechanisms in the Congo, Tyrone Savage and Olivier Kambala 15 Between peace and ju...