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, both civilians and members of armed forces. This includes 10,415 Albanians, 2,197 Serbs, and 528 Roma, Bosniaks and other non-Albanians. UNCHR accounts in 1999 refer to 700,000 refugees and 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 actively involved in seeking justice and has introduced several transitional justice mechanisms. Such extensive involvement by international actors in domestic jurisdiction has attracted the attention of many academics, most of whom have focused on exploring the functioning of international criminal justice (ICJ) mechanisms, their legitimacy, and providing extensive analysis 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 as the passive and active acknowledgement of its processes remains mostly ignored by previous research. The objective of this chapter is to identify the dominant discourse of the acceptance of international criminal justice in Kosovo, and how international criminal justice is perceived and appreciated by the recipient groups

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