Yesterday, the Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo hosted the first lecture of the online training program, "Memorialization and Dealing with the Past," with our first speaker, Refik Hodžić—an award-winning journalist, filmmaker, and transitional justice specialist.
He examined the key pillars of transitional justice: truth-seeking, criminal justice, reparations, and memorialization, analyzing how they have been implemented in both the past and present. Hodžić underlined how the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) marked a milestone in the development of transitional justice in Europe.
However, Hodžić also argued that recent global events demonstrate the continued limitations of transitional justice. Referring to the recent attacks by the United States and Israel in Iran, as well as the ongoing genocide in Gaza, he noted that transitional justice mechanisms often fail to hold powerful states accountable. In this context, memorialization can even be instrumentalized to justify violence and contribute to the impunity of nations in power.
This led to a broader discussion about the effectiveness of international law and whether it can truly function as a universal system of accountability. At the same time, the discussion emphasized that despite these limitations, critically engaging with transitional justice and memorialization remains essential.
The Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo thanks everyone who joined and participated in the lecture, with a special thanks to our speaker. We look forward to the upcoming lectures.
