Description
Book SynopsisAcross the world, mass graves, often containing a multitude of human remains, are sites of human loss, suffering and unimaginable acts of cruelty. While no one mass grave or its investigation is the same, all mass graves contain evidence that is essential to the realisation of justice and accountability goals for victims, affected communities, states in transition and the international community.
This book tactfully examines this sensitive topic, demonstrating how mass grave investigations can be highly complex, context-specific, lengthy and expensive processes, requiring significant planning, coordination, expertise and resources. The book analyses the various processes involved in mass grave investigation from a number of disciplinary perspectives and a variety of geographical, cultural and political contexts, including Bosnia, Guatemala, Libya, Nepal and Rwanda. Chapters feature expert contributions from voices in the fields of forensic sciences, advocacy and the judiciary, along with world-leading international legal expertise on mass graves, their protection and investigation.
This timely book will be an ideal resource for practitioners and academics in the fields of international criminal law, international human rights law, international humanitarian law and transitional justice. Students interested in forensic archaeology, anthropology, fact-finding and human rights investigations will also find this a stimulating read.
Trade Review‘Whether as a result of criminal activity, conflict, gross human rights abuse, or as a means of respectfully managing large-scale deceased persons following disasters, mass graves are sadly common global phenomena. Providing examples from different geographical contexts, the contributors to this volume discuss the processes and complexities involved in working on mass graves. The range of perspectives provided by the authors make the book an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the international legal framework related to the management and investigation of mass graves.’ -- Soren Blau, Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, Australia
Table of ContentsContents: Foreword by Morris Tidball-Binz ix Introduction: Mass Graves, Truth and Justice 1 Melanie Klinkner and Ellie Smith 1 Nepal’s experience of mass grave investigation: the Godar exhumation 23 Gauri Pradhan 2 (Im-)mobilisation of efforts for justice in Libya and the Tarhuna mass graves case 34 Alessandra La Vaccara 3 Anatomy of a grave: the Kozluk excavations as an exemplar of a successful mass grave investigation 50 Ian Hanson 4 Rwanda’s gacaca courts and the discovery of mass graves 80 Julia Viebach, Denis Bikesha and Allan Moore 5 The practice of identifying the victims of Guatemala’s civil war: who is being identified? 103 Gillian Fowler and Stefan Schmitt 6 Interview with Judge Howard Morrison 124 Melanie Klinkner and Ellie Smith 7 Interview with Dr Agnès Callamard 139 Melanie Klinkner and Ellie Smith 8 Conclusion and outlook on things to come 154 Melanie Klinkner and Ellie Smith Index 167
