ABSTRACT
This chapter situates memory and witnessing in relation to post-conflict transition, discussing how remembering trauma is understood within both the broader literature on transitional justice, and specifically the scholarship on international trials. This includes outlining the perceived role memory has in international criminal trials- Nuremberg/Eichmann, ICTR, ICC- mandated with human rights objectives. The chapter argues that whilst it is common within the legal scholarship for advocacy for trials to contribute to a collective story of past atrocities, this advocacy fails to comprehend the contingent nature of memory and the crucial role international criminal institutions, and legal actors, have in the construction of witness memories. The reverence of human rights advocacy has influenced the perceived importance of international human rights law in the transitional justice scholarship. International human rights law acts as a universal standard which can ‘provide guidance on the necessary course of action’, which is external to the parties involved in transition.
