Inter- and intra-ethnic dialogues on war-time violence and its legacies

Discussions about war-time violence and its legacies are necessary to pave the way for reconciliation and reckoning with the history of human rights violations in societies divided by conflict. However, donors have recently lost interest in funding inter-group and intragroup dialogues, specifically, in the context of dwindling funds for transitional justice activities more generally in the Western Balkans. Transitional justice is a field of scholarship and practice preoccupied with a response by states and societies to the legacy of violence and human rights violations. We engaged with representatives of civil society organisations from the region working in the field of transitional justice to share our research on dialogues about war-time violence and its legacies between members of opposed ethnic groups and within groups. The exchange of views resulted in the formulation of four recommendations for policy and practice: 1) there is a need for continued funding of transitional justice projects, in general, and, 2) a particular need for training in political communication, while 3) shifting the focus of evaluation to the quality of dialogues and their benefits, and 4) further supporting knowledge exchange between scholars and practitioners to share policy-relevant insights.