Transitional justice and mental health : The Kosovo case
Transitional justice and mental health : The Kosovo case
Date
2020
Authors
Mohammadi Imir, Nona
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Abstract
While the relationship between war and mental health has long been the subject of research, the
role of post-war mechanisms such as dealing with the past, better understood as transitional
justice, is less well understood at the psychological and social level. The main pillars of
transitional justice are legal procedures, truth-finding measures, reparation processes and
reforms. Each of these pillars contain psychosocial elements that can have an impact on the
psychological well-being of those affected. One of the main objectives of this thesis is therefore
to identify the influencing factors and to develop a novel interdisciplinary theoretical
framework of how transitional justice mechanisms are related to and positively influence the
mental well-being of a post-conflict society. This will be exemplified with actions that go
beyond legislation, such as public recognition, national apologies in education, and the
establishment of memorials and museums. However, psychometric tools to verify the positive
effects of these pillars of transitional justice are still missing. In developing this novel
interdisciplinary theoretical framework, this work will identify concepts by focusing on postwar
dynamics from different perspectives. It has been shown that in different cases, that a
process of coming to terms with the past can accompany a society for decades. Furthermore,
the present thesis aims at exemplifying the possibilities of application of the newly developed
theoretical framework with the case of Kosovo.
Description
Second semester University: Université du Luxembourg
Keywords
transitional justice,
Kosovo,
mental health,
psychological aspects