'Greening' Transitional Justice?

Matthew Evans (ed), Beyond Transitional Justice? (Routledge, 2021 Forthcoming)

19 Pages Posted: 9 Mar 2021

See all articles by Rachel Killean

Rachel Killean

The University of Sydney - Faculty of Law; Queen's University Belfast School of Law

Lauren Dempster

Queen's University Belfast

Date Written: January 19, 2021

Abstract

Environmental destruction can act as both a source and consequence of conflict, atrocity, and repression. From resource extraction as a means of funding conflict to the deliberate destruction of habitats relied upon by targeted communities, violence and the environment have a complex relationship which extends far beyond the cessation of hostilities. It is therefore notable that environmental harms are often unseen and under-theorised in the context of transitional justice. This chapter explores this historical invisibility and considers what a turn towards a ‘green’ transitional justice might look like. To do so, it draws connections between critical transitional justice scholarship and the growing field of green criminology, which has sought to challenge the anthropocentrism of dominant framings of crime and harm. In particular, the chapter explores transitional justice’s ‘dominance of legalism’, neocolonial tendencies and ‘liberal imprints’, and interrogates their implications for the visibility of environmental harm.

Keywords: Transitional Justice; Green Criminology; Environmental Distruction

Suggested Citation

Killean, Rachel and Dempster, Lauren, 'Greening' Transitional Justice? (January 19, 2021). Matthew Evans (ed), Beyond Transitional Justice? (Routledge, 2021 Forthcoming), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3769180 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3769180

Rachel Killean (Contact Author)

The University of Sydney - Faculty of Law ( email )

New Law Building, F10
The University of Sydney
Sydney, NSW 2006
Australia

Queen's University Belfast School of Law ( email )

School of Law
Belfast BT7 1NN, BT7 1NN
Ireland

Lauren Dempster

Queen's University Belfast ( email )

25 University Square
Belfast, BT7 1NN
Ireland

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