Search Result

Srl

Item

ID: 106036

Delaying truth recovery for missing persons / Kovras, Iosif; Loizides, Neophytos

Loizides, Neophytos	Journal Article
	0 Rating(s) & 0 Review(s)

Publication

2011.

Summary/Abstract

The fate of missing persons is a central issue in post-conflict societies facing truth recovery and human rights dilemmas. Despite widespread public sympathy towards relatives, societies emerging from conflict often defer the recovery of missing for decades. More paradoxically, in post-1974 Cyprus, the official authorities delayed unilateral exhumations of victims buried within cemeteries in their own jurisdiction. Analysis of official post-1974 discourses reveals a Greek-Cypriot consensus to emphasise the issue as one of Turkish aggression, thus downplaying in-group responsibilities and the legacy of intra-communal violence. We compare the experience of Cyprus with other post-conflict societies such as Spain, Northern Ireland, and Mozambique and explore the linkages between institutions and beliefs about transitional justice. We argue that elite consensus initiates and facilitates the transition to democracy but often leads to the institutionalisation of groups opposing truth recovery even for in-group members.

Key Words

Cyprus ; Spoilers ; Elite Framing ; Missing Persons ; Political Learning ; Truth Recovery

In Basket

Export

ID: 112413

De-linkage processes and grassroots movements in transitional j / Kovras, Iosif

Kovras, Iosif	Journal Article
	0 Rating(s) & 0 Review(s)

Publication

2012.

Summary/Abstract

Transitional justice literature has highlighted a negative relationship between enforced disappearances and reconciliation in post-conflict settings. Little attention has been paid to how human rights issues can become stepping-stones to reconciliation. The article explains the transformation of the Cypriot Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) from an inoperative body into a successful humanitarian forum, paving the way for the pro-rapprochement bi-communal grassroots mobilization of the relatives of the missing. By juxtaposing the experience of Cyprus with other societies confronting similar problems, the article shows how the issue of the missing can become a driving force for reconciliation. The findings indicate that a policy delinking humanitarian exhumations from the prospect of a wider political settlement facilitates positive transformation in protracted human rights problems and opens up a window of opportunity to grassroots actors.

Key Words

Reconciliation ; Cyprus ; Transitional Justice ; Missing Persons ; Truth Recovery ; Enforced Disappearances ;
Political Exhumations

In Basket

Export