ABSTRACT
People’s Tribunals are a result of strong peaceful grassroots movements within society. Generally, they focus on human rights issues. People who create these movements share a common interest in discussing a legitimate problem which has not been adequately addressed by a state or its entities. In some cases the problem cannot be handled in a formal judicial system because of a legal technicality or because of political reasons. The main goal of a PT is to shed light on a historical or ongoing problem to help foster discussion, create a record with legitimate evidence, and/or suggest constructive solutions to the problem raised. They create space for civil society to create a counter narrative against perpetrators. One of the most important features of a PT is the space it opens for victims and survivors of mass atrocities to share their experiences, in turn raising awareness, and/or dispensing justice, and/or further mobilising the issue. In this chapter the author examines the history of the PT and then introduces the reader to survivors and activists who pushed for a PT. After these sections, the author will discuss the landscape of victims’ rights in the international context and then examine the rights PT afford victims and survivors. At the conclusion of this chapter is a suggestion that PT adopt protocols for victim and survivor rights to be consistent with the norms of international law.
