ABSTRACT
This contribution examines EU approaches to justice for gross human rights violations in conflict-affected environments. It starts with a discussion of the significance of justice for second-generation human security and emphasises the role of accountability in tackling the spectrum of abuse and criminality – human rights abuse, organised crime, corruption – at the heart of today’s conflicts. It then assesses EU justice policies and practices in relation to three human security principles: the primacy of human rights, a bottom-up approach and a regional approach. We argue that EU engagement in justice issues plays out differently in Liberal Peace and War on Terror contexts and draw on evidence from the Balkans and Afghanistan to illuminate some of these differences. The final section highlights the main challenges for the EU in advancing justice for atrocity crimes and economic crimes and offers a set of recommendations for aligning EU justice policies with a second-generation human security approach. In particular, we argue for a shift in thinking about the role and potential of justice in today’s conflicts and identify the key elements and resources needed for developing an alternative approach.
