Original scientific paper
EU CONDITIONALITY AND TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE IN THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA
Iavor Rangelov
Abstract
The countries of the former Yugoslavia inherited a diffi cult
legacy of mass atrocities and human rights abuse from the wars of the
1990s. The European Union’s association and accession conditionality
with respect to Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and
Croatia incorporates the problem of dealing with war crimes only insofar
as it requires full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal
for the Former Yugoslavia. While transfers of war crimes suspects
to The Hague have dominated EU relations with the countries of the
Western Balkans, domestic transitional justice mechanisms such as
truth-telling inquiries and war crimes trials have been ignored by the
international community. However, international justice remains both
remote and heavily contested across the region, and is often used to
radicalise nationalist sentiments instead of facilitating reconciliation
among ethnic communities. The goals of EU conditionality in ex-Yugoslavia
- promoting reconciliation and cross-border cooperation - can
only be effectively advanced if mechanisms of transitional justice are
employed at the national level, articulating truth and rebuilding the
rule of law by establishing war crimes accountability from within.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
28526
URI
Publication date:
3.11.2006.
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