ABSTRACT
‘Transitional justice’ suggests the idea of justice in motion. By definition, transitional justice suggests a type of justice that plays a leading, albeit transient, role in shaping a transition from atrocities to the rule of law through a specifically tailored set of tools. Increasingly, transitional justice is implemented in contexts where there is no clean break from conflict, ‘no defining moment of transition, no sense of a rupture with the past offering a new leaf or fresh start for the society’. Consequently, transitional justice is better understood as a range of mechanisms that can be implemented within a framework that includes both judicial and non-judicial mechanisms, such as prosecutions, reparations, truth-seeking and institutional reform. The normative framework underlying transitional justice begins with the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights where states affirmed that recognising inherent dignity and equal and inalienable rights serves as the foundation for freedom, justice and peace.
