Layered justice : assessing the acceptance of the multiple international criminal justice mechanisms in Post-War Kosovo

The violent conflict in Kosovo from 1998-1999 was marked by severe human rights abuses.According to the Kosovo Memory Book (2014), 13,517 people were killed or went missing, bothcivilians and members of armed forces. This includes 10,415 Albanians, 2,197 Serbs, and 528Roma, Bosniaks and other non-Albanians. UNCHR accounts in 1999 refer to 700,000 refugeesand 70,000 homes that had been damaged or destroyed (UNHCR 1999).Since the end of the Kosovo conflict in June 1999 the international community has been activelyinvolved in seeking justice and has introduced several transitional justice mechanisms. Suchextensive involvement by international actors in domestic jurisdiction has attracted theattention of many academics, most of whom have focused on exploring the functioning ofinternational criminal justice (ICJ) mechanisms, their legitimacy, and providing extensiveanalysis of the concepts and doctrines produced by these mechanisms (Dickinson 2003, 1059).However, the mere reception of international criminal justice by the recipient groups, such asthe passive and active acknowledgement of its processes remains mostly ignored by previousresearch.The objective of this chapter is to identify the dominant discourse of the acceptance ofinternational criminal justice in Kosovo, and how international criminal justice is perceived andappreciated by the recipient groupsThe violent conflict in Kosovo from 1998-1999 was marked by severe human rights abuses.According to the Kosovo Memory Book (2014), 13,517 people were killed or went missing, bothcivilians and members of armed forces. This includes 10,415 Albanians, 2,197 Serbs, and 528Roma, Bosniaks and other non-Albanians. UNCHR accounts in 1999 refer to 700,000 refugeesand 70,000 homes that had been damaged or destroyed (UNHCR 1999).Since the end of the Kosovo conflict in June 1999 the international community has been activelyinvolved in seeking justice and has introduced several transitional justice mechanisms. Suchextensive involvement by international actors in domestic jurisdiction has attracted theattention of many academics, most of whom have focused on exploring the functioning ofinternational criminal justice (ICJ) mechanisms, their legitimacy, and providing extensiveanalysis of the concepts and doctrines produced by these mechanisms (Dickinson 2003, 1059).However, the mere reception of international criminal justice by the recipient groups, such asthe passive and active acknowledgement of its processes remains mostly ignored by previousresearch.The objective of this chapter is to identify the dominant discourse of the acceptance ofinternational criminal justice in Kosovo, and how international criminal justice is perceived andappreciated by the recipient groupsB