Lessons Learned? The Kosovo Specialist Chambers’ Lack of Local Legitimacy and Its Implications

• Published in: Human rights review (Piscataway, N.J.) Vol. 20; no. 3; pp. 267 - 287
• Main Author: Hehir, Aidan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.09.2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Court hearings & proceedings; Courts; Development Aid; Education; Equality and Human Rights; Human Rights; Justice; Legitimacy; Ownership; Philosophy; Political Philosophy; Prescription drugs; Public opinion; Qualitative research; Social Justice; Social Philosophy; Terrorism and Political Violence; Transitional justice; Kosovo; Legitimacy; Kosovo; Transitional justice; ICTY; Local ownership
• DOI: 10.1007/s12142-019-00564-y
• ISSN: 1524-8879

The experiences of many transitional justice mechanisms have led to a general consensus on the central importance of local legitimacy and local ownership; this indeed is repeatedly avowed by both the UN and the EU in their prescriptions on effective transitional justice mechanisms. Yet, I argue that the Kosovo Specialist Chambers was established in the absence of both. The court was not created in response to domestic pressure from within Kosovo; rather, it was the result of external pressure which by definition compromised local ownership and legitimacy. Drawing on the findings from first-hand qualitative research, I demonstrate that the court’s local legitimacy has not improved since its establishment. This lack of legitimacy, I argue, has potentially negative implications as, without popular legitimacy, the court’s proceedings and judgements are unlikely to command sufficient public support to either catalyse the societal changes promised by the court’s external sponsors, or withstand opposition to the court from within the Kosovo Albanian population resulting from any perceived slight against the ‘heroic’ KLA.