Transitional Justice During Ongoing Conflicts: the Case of Donbas in Ukraine

Abstract

Transitional justice (TJ) is a means for a state to address grave human rights violations that occurred in the past due to armed conflicts or oppressive regimes. Contrary to the traditional TJtheory, which anticipates the application of justice-restoration measures to a post- conflict environment, this paper seeks to analyze the transitional justice toolkit implementation against the backdrop of the ongoing war. The document analysis of the peace concords and provisional agreements, done with qualitative content analysis, showcased that various judicial, social, political, and international measures and mechanisms can and should be applied prior to war resolution in order to facilitate the pursuit of justice, accountability and conflict settlement. The attempt to practically operationalize the developed TJ tool-kit in the midst of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine with a particular reference to the Donbas region (Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts) has proven that individual assessment of the local conflict peculiarities is crucial when it comes to such a complex phenomenon as transitional justice. Furthermore, some intricate nuances concerning TJ application to the given war, stemming from the current international settings, Russia's power position in the global arena as well as satiation on the...