Engaging with Victims and Perpetrators in Transitional ... - FriEnt

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FriEnt/KOFF Workshop ReportOf course, each field of activity makes an implicit reference to the other category.Thus the right to justice implies that any victim can assert his or her rights toreceive a fair and effective judicial remedy including the expectation thatreparations will be forthcoming. At the same time, the right to reparations mayimply an important role for perpetrators as the author (collectively) or authors(individually) of an official apology, for example, which could be an importantstep if reparations are also to contribute to the reconstruction of social relations.Complex relationships between victims and perpetratorsAt the same time, individual mechanisms of transitional justice link victims andperpetrators differently depending on their underlying assumptions regarding themodality of conflict resolution as well as their respective goals and objectives:A tribunal may start from a relationship between victim and perpetrator as onecharacterised by violence and violation. The objective with respect to theperpetrator in relation to the victim is non-repetition; with respect to the victimthe goal is satisfaction, in order to prevent revenge on his or her part. A truthcommission, by contrast, may introduce the elements of restitution, apology, andforgiveness to redefine the relationship between perpetrator and victim.Moreover, in many conflict situations it may be difficult to differentiate betweenvictims and perpetrators. A case in point concerns child soldiers, who, havingbeen abducted as children and forced to become combatants, may laterparticipate in massacres and other human rights abuses against the civilianpopulation. Another example refers to members of a dominant ethnic group(Serbs in Kosovo before June 1999) which may subsequently become the targetof repressive or discriminatory measures when the power struggle has beenresolved to their detriment.Very often this leads us to situations where we are confronted with rival victimnarratives of different communities (e.g. Serbian and Albanian communities inKosovo), coupled with a denial of responsibility for violations committed by theirown group. In such cases, the victim identity can be misused to legitimise newabuses of power.What does this mean in practice?• Transitional justice mechanisms offer a range of options in addressing thecomplexity of victim-perpetrator identities and relationships. A broadapproach involving a combination of mechanisms is necessary to restore thedignity of victims and to ensure the accountability of perpetrators• In designing a transitional justice strategy, attention should include ananalysis of victim – perpetrator relationships in order to identify thecombination and sequencing of measures that would best serve the long-termgoals of conflict transformation and reconciliation. Different mechanisms willhave to come into play at different points in time and in various combinations.• The complexities of victim and perpetrator identity have to be taken intoaccount from historical, sociological, and anthropological perspectives. If theissue of victimhood on an individual and collective level is not addressed, theprocess of conflict transformation may be jeopardised. The same reasoningapplies to the question of perpetrator identity.• The complexity of victim and perpetrator identity and relations underline theimportance of reframing identities along lines different from victim/perpetrator ascriptions as part of a conflict transformation process. These4
FriEnt/KOFF Workshop Reportmay be lines of gender, generation, and occupation as a basis forreconstructing social relationships between groups.2.2. Identities ascribed, identities transformed: Psychosocialfoundations of victim and perpetrator categories and theirtransformationA simple definition in view of complexityThe observation of complexity and complementarities of victim and perpetratorcategories was reinforced by a social-psychological view of victims andperpetrators. Social psychological research and practice have given evidence thatthe two categories are complementary and have realised that there is a strongcorrelation between perpetratorhood and prior victimisation. This is true on anindividual level, but also on group level: Groups that have suffered severepersecution and violence are more likely to become perpetrators under certainconditions.For greater clarity Simone Lindorfer, a psychologist with a wide experience inpost-conflict trauma, proposed the following simple working definition:• “A victim is somebody who, at a particular point in time, is subjected tointended harm by somebody else”.• “A “perpetrator” is somebody who, at a particular point in time, intentionallyinflicts harm on somebody else.”On becoming victims and perpetratorsMany theories have been brought forward to explain how people may becomeinvolved in large-scale violence and inflict harm and atrocities on others.Persistent difficult life conditions seem to be a basis that lends itself as a startingpoint for scapegoating particular groups for being responsible for one’s own badsituation. In complex social and political processes this may go as far asdeveloping complete de-valuation and de-humanisation of the scapegoatedgroup. Its members are finally placed outside the moral frame of one’s society.This makes it good behaviour and even a matter of self-defence to pursue andkill them. This permits the group, psychologically speaking, to retain – or even todevelop - self-esteem and to reinforce one’s own social, economic and politicalposition.On the contrary, the experience of traumatic events like atrocities and large scaleviolence call into question, on the side of the victim, basic human relationshipslike family, friendship, love and community. They deeply shatter the constructionof the self and the world around that is formed and sustained in relation toothers. This leaves victims with a profound sense of powerlessness that isoverwhelming to his or her sense of control, connection, and meaning.Both, however, victims and perpetrators, may suffer from the consequences ofviolence that they inflicted or suffered respectively. Traumatisation is not a“privilege” of the victim nor can we derive a moral judgement from the absenceor presence of psychological trauma symptoms. In other words, perpetrators mayshow post-traumatic stress symptoms in ways very similar to those of victims ofviolence, e.g. suffering from depression, addiction, nightmares or suddenflashbacks. The symptoms may persist over time and may make it difficult forpeople to participate in everyday life, in the usual routines of work and familylife.5
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