The impact of holistic justice on the long term experiences and well-being of mass human rights violation survivors: Ethnographic and interview evidence from Kosova, Northern Ireland and Albania

Abstract

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.