Research highlights the long-term collective effects of mass human rights violations
(MHRVs) on survivors’ wellbeing. This multi-method, multi-context paper combines the
Social Identity Approach, transitional and social justice theories and human rights
conceptualised wellbeing to propose a human rights understanding to trauma ...
Research highlights the long-term collective effects of mass human rights violations
(MHRVs) on survivors’ wellbeing. This multi-method, multi-context paper combines the
Social Identity Approach, transitional and social justice theories and human rights
conceptualised wellbeing to propose a human rights understanding to trauma responses and
experiences in the context of MHRVs. In Study 1, ethnographic research in four locations in
Kosova, five years post-war indicates that lack of perceived conflict-related and social justice
are experienced as a key contributor to survivors’ individual and collective wellbeing. In
Study 2, sixty-one semi-structured interviews with MHRVs survivors from post-war Kosova,
post-conflict Northern Ireland, and post-dictatorship Albania 2-3 decades post-conflict also
show that such justice experiences inform wellbeing. These studies illustrate the importance
of expanding the Social Identity Approach to health and trauma theories by taking account of
a human rights conceptualised wellbeing as well as adopting a holistic analysis of justice
perceptions.
