More than misfortune: recognizing natural disasters as a concern for transitional justice
Natural disasters are often characterized by gross human rights violations, yet these injustices are rarely acknowledged and addressed through transitional justice processes. Do systematic abuses in disaster contexts fall within the scope of transitional justice? In exploring this question, this art...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2017
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| In: |
International journal of transitional justice
Year: 2017, Volume: 11, Issue: 3, Pages: 400-420 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Keywords: |
| Summary: | Natural disasters are often characterized by gross human rights violations, yet these injustices are rarely acknowledged and addressed through transitional justice processes. Do systematic abuses in disaster contexts fall within the scope of transitional justice? In exploring this question, this article draws attention to a facet of injustice that has been ignored, arbitrarily discounted or inadvertently effaced. I suggest that misperceptions about natural disasters as inevitable, blameless misfortunes perpetuate neglect, in theory and in practice, of injustices associated with natural disasters, and draw on insights from the disaster studies literature to challenge this exclusion. Engaging concrete examples of recent disasters to ground my theoretical claims, I contend that egregious, systematic abuses associated with natural disasters may represent significant concerns for transitional justice. |
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| ISSN: | 1752-7724 |
| DOI: | 10.1093/ijtj/ijx024 |
