Ed Vulliamy makes the crucial distinction between justice and “reckoning,” a term he uses to describe a part of the post-conflict reconciliation process. Reconciliation is a long and drawn-out process, spanning over decades, generations. It is also perhaps not particularly rewarding as breakthroughs are not always evident. It is complicated, requiring utmost cooperation and honesty from all parties: citizens, the government, donors, the international community. As Vulliamy highlights, it is in reconciliation – a process that is too often forgotten, though perhaps less now – that long-term peace is gained and re-development begins:
[...] ”Reckoning” is one of the harshest words in the English language. It means coming to terms with what was done in the wake of calamity, staring at oneself in the mirror, and making amends, historical, political and material. The delivery of Mladic for trial is an important moment, but for justice rather than reckoning. The substance of reckoning is on the ground and among the people who gladly carried out Mladic’s heinous orders. There, it is not happening. And without reckoning, there can be no reconciliation, and thereby no real peace (continued).
This article reminds me of a piece I wrote from Kosovo in 2008, shortly after its independence. Women living within the borders of Kosovo – Albanian, Serbian and Roma – meeting in the primarily Serbian side of Mitrovica. There was nothing particularly glamorous about these meetings: the women would make thick Turkish coffee and the children would stuff their faces with ripe cherries. Yet, without these types of forums, it would be hard for Albanian or Serbian Kosovars to walk to the other side of town and meet with other families and discover that they all shared the same basic needs and that the threat of violence was more in the manipulation of their fears than in reality itself.