International Norms of Justice: What Impact on the Ground? Researcher: Jessica Mecellem, doctoral candidate in political science Research Assistant: Jerome Torossian Summary: How do people think about justice for human rights abuses? More specifically, in the context of the global increase in prosecutions of former civilian and military officials for human rights abuses during periods of violent conflict or authoritarian rule, are people on the ground thinking of justice in terms of individual criminal responsibility? The literature has looked at this closely in democratic regimes, mostly in Europe and Latin America. This research contributes to intellectual advancement by examining two cases, semi-authoritarian Algeria and semi- democratic Turkey, from the Middle East North Africa region. I specifically ask, are key actors thinking in terms of individual criminal responsibility? Furthermore, in Turkey, domestic trials have been ongoing since 2009 prosecuting former and current military officials for human rights abuses, begging the question, what mechanisms have facilitated these trials? . Methods and Cases: • Ethnographic fieldwork among key actors in Algeria and Turkey. • Participant observation •Key actors include relatives of the forcibly disappeared, and human rights activists and legal professionals representing relatives •Collection of primary source documents • Eighty-six in-depth interviews Hypotheses: T hat thanks to the links between NGOs and victims in both countries with international networks, key actors in Algeria and Turkey will be thinking in terms of justice as individual criminal responsibility. Furthermore, I contend that two elements facilitate domestic prosecutions: a) When power is distributed between elite actors this provides windows of opportunities for human rights activists to push through human rights prosecutions b) These trials simultaneously depend on high levels of legal mobilization (access to legal resources) among activists and victims. Findings: • Support for presence of norm of individual criminal responsibility. • Support for hypothesis that power distribution and elite conflict create windows of opportunities that can be taken advantage of by human rights activists working on prosecutions. • Support for hypothesis that this was possible in Turkey particularly because of the increase in access to legal resources (what is called legal mobilization). • The importance of the role played by the legal complex (ties and relations between legal professionals) in Turkey and Algeria in understanding ways forward for both countries.

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Page 1: International Norms of Justice: What Impact on the Ground?

International Norms of Justice: What Impact on the Ground?Researcher: Jessica Mecellem, doctoral candidate in political science

Research Assistant: Jerome Torossian

Summary:

How do people think about justice for human rights abuses? More specifically, in the context of the global increase in prosecutions of former civilian and military officials for human rights abuses during periods of violent conflict or authoritarian rule, are people on the ground thinking of justice in terms of individual criminal responsibility? The literature has looked at this closely in democratic regimes, mostly in Europe and Latin America. This research contributes to intellectual advancement by examining two cases, semi-authoritarian Algeria and semi-democratic Turkey, from the Middle East North Africa region. I specifically ask, are key actors thinking in terms of individual criminal responsibility? Furthermore, in Turkey, domestic trials have been ongoing since 2009 prosecuting former and current military officials for human rights abuses, begging the question, what mechanisms have facilitated these trials? .

Methods and Cases:

• Ethnographic fieldwork among key actors in Algeria and Turkey.

• Participant observation

•Key actors include relatives of the forcibly disappeared, and human rights activists and legal professionals representing relatives

•Collection of primary source documents

• Eighty-six in-depth interviews

Hypotheses:

That thanks to the links between NGOs and victims in both countries with international networks, key actors in Algeria and Turkey will be thinking in terms of justice as individual criminal responsibility.

Furthermore, I contend that two elements facilitate domestic prosecutions: a) When power is distributed between elite actors this provides windows of opportunities for

human rights activists to push through human rights prosecutionsb) These trials simultaneously depend on high levels of legal mobilization (access to legal

resources) among activists and victims.

Findings:

• Support for presence of norm of individual criminal responsibility.

• Support for hypothesis that power distribution and elite conflict create windows of opportunities that can be taken advantage of by human rights activists working on prosecutions.

• Support for hypothesis that this was possible in Turkey particularly because of the increase in access to legal resources (what is called legal mobilization).

• The importance of the role played by the legal complex (ties and relations between legal professionals) in Turkey and Algeria in understanding ways forward for both countries.