ABSTRACT
Within Burundi’s transitional justice process many actors, among them civil society organisations, are involved in the construction of a Burundian transitional justice model, which is constrained by local political dynamics and international standards. This chapter shows how resistance of civil society organisations to the idea and attempted practice of a Burundian model is elaborated through their role in ‘making’ this very same model. Thereby, resistance is not understood in terms of violent protest against the way in which the Burundian government is conducting the transitional justice process. Instead, resistance is enacted rather through soft mechanisms, which aim to influence the government’s position in moving towards international standards that are considered to be more legitimate.
