Dr. Sharefah Almuhana
Assistant Professor of Public International Law
Kuwait International Law School (KILAW)

Abstract:

The field of “Transitional Justice” emerged in the 1980s to address human rights abuses committed by authoritarian regimes or during conflict. Transitional justice aims to investigate and try past abuses and to prevent the reoccurrence of abuses by establishing conditions that enable the punishment of state leaders and provide a flourishing environment for political change and institutional reforms, therefore accomplishing criminal and social justice, transparency, and democracy. The idea of transitional justice was developed by human rights activists at the national level. It then evolved to the international level through state practice. Now, numerous international instruments contribute to the promotion of transitional justice. This article clarifies the concept of “Transitional Justice” and its boundaries, the origins of the field, and how it has been implemented and expanded. Additionally, this article sheds light on some of the major international instruments promoting transitional justice, as well as state practices that have been influenced by transitional justice. This article concludes by stressing the broad spectrum of challenges to transitional justice. Therefore, the article emphasizes the complexity of implementing transitional justice. The article forms an understanding that the measures of transitional justice may not provide absolute, convenient, and immediate answers or remedies. Rather, transitional justice should be viewed as a long, stressful, and variable roadmap to achieving democracy and stability.

Key words: international criminal law, colonization, transformative, human rights, dictatorship, restorative justice.

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