New Eastern Europe - November-December 2017

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stances is insufficient (the conflict emerged in these circumstances) and impossible

(in the complex social reality, events are irreversible). Furthermore, as Gary J. Bass

rightly emphasises, “the aftermath of war is crucial to the justice of war itself ”. This

is to say, the pursuit of justice should become an integral part of any peacebuilding

strategy for the Donbas conflict.

Post-conflict justice

The concept of jus post bellum generally refers to strategies of establishing jus-

tice at the final phases of war. These strategies may raise issues such as reconcili-

ation, addressing victims’ needs, accountability for atrocities and crimes commit-

ted as well as the establishment of the rule of law in

post-conflict societies. Modalities of post-conflict

justice are normally established within certain legal,

geographical and political contexts. Usually, they are

associated with conflicts within states, not so much

with conflicts involving more than one state.

This is not to say that post-conflict justice is exclu-

sively local, devoid of any cosmopolitan imperatives.

In practice, establishment of post-conflict strategies

is often framed by international bodies, including the United Nations, as well as

by different branches of international law. Furthermore, two regional bodies, the

European Union and the African Union, have made considerable progress towards

institutional commitments towards post-conflict justice. Indeed, some would argue

that in the case of Europe, transitional justice strategies such as responses to war,

genocide, civil war, democratisation efforts, reconstruction and reunification in

the aftermath of the Cold War, form the underlying normative drivers of integra-

tion and peace.

The specific contexts in which any post-conflict justice strategies are being

established, dictate the need to find a proper balance between three important

issues: truth, justice and sequencing. An important but contentious aspect of jus

post bellum is the question of inclusive or collective memory and the concomitant

need for public discourse on past events, history, the present situation and the way

forward. “Active forgetting” may very well be the best post-war strategy of all, and

there should be at least the option of forgetting. Such view is, however, not popu-

larly accepted. Instead, truth commissions are typically presented as appropriate

means to facilitate and record processes on collective memory as well as individual

narratives about past atrocities.

The pursuit of justice

should become

an integral part of

any peacebuilding

strategy for the

Donbas conflict.

Opinion & Analysis Is it too early to speak about justice in Donbas?, Gerhard Kemp and Igor Lyubashenko