Cultural heritage – an overlooked component in transitional justice?
Cultural heritage – an overlooked component in transitional justice?

Summary/Abstract: This paper explores the potential of cultural heritage in transitional justice (TJ) strategies. It examines whether cultural heritage components are underdeveloped in international criminal justice and transitional justice mechanisms and the prospects for broader inclusion. To narrow the scope and reach more precise conclusions, the focus is on immovable tangible cultural heritage to the exclusion of intangible cultural heritage. Through a case study of the transitional justice process in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), it is shown that dealing with the intentional destruction of cultural heritage is critical to a transitional justice process, especially when the cultural heritage sites in question are constitutive of the cultural identity of ethnic or religious groups. The case demonstrates that victimcentered approaches to criminal justice, reparations, and reconstruction are essential. In what transitional justice mechanisms, then, can cultural heritage contribute to the processes of post-conflict societies toward living in a peaceful and democratic state?

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