Child Soldiers and Restorative Transitional Justice

Abstract

Retributive criminal justice, as expressed in criminal prosecutions, is not the only way to achieve accountability for criminal wrongdoing. An alternative is provided by the concept of restorative justice. Restorative justice focuses on repairing the harm caused by crime by responding to the needs of all stakeholders, including the perpetrator. It therefore constitutes a particularly well-suited approach to crimes committed by children. However, because restorative justice has been developed for “ordinary” crimes within domestic settings, it needs to be adapted to the situation of “extraordinary crimes”, i.e. crimes under international law, in transitional settings. The fourth chapter develops a new approach to achieve accountability for crimes under international law, which is called restorative transitional justice. The chapter begins with an analysis of restorative justice as a theoretical and practical concept, including its relationship to juvenile justice. It then explores the applicability of restorative justice in transitional settings and its suitability to address crimes under international law. Thereafter it turns towards developing the concept of restorative transitional justice and discussing its practical application. After establishing why restorative transitional justice constitutes an ideal approach to the situation of child soldiers, a variety of restorative transitional justice processes for child soldiers are analyzed on a theoretical and practical basis.