A SHORT ANALYSİS OF ISIS UNDER THE TRANSITONAL JUSTICE FRAMEWORK

Year 2024, Volume: 9 Issue: 2, 105 - 124, 30.12.2024

Merve Yüce Usta

Abstract

The concept of Transitional Justice, which emerged in the last quarter of the 20th century, was initially used for the search for accoubtability and justice for past human right violations in societies transitioning to democracy but rapidly increasing number of armed conflicts after the end of the Cold War made it necessary to expand its scope. It is not enough for the guns to fall silent for the conflicts to end, and lasting peace seems to be directly linked to the effective operation of Transitional Justice mechanisms (such as providing justice for victims, reconciliation between groups, truth commissions). In order to make sense of this correlation, the study will first examine the institutions and mechanisms of Transitional Justice in post-conflict environments. Then, in order to analyze the effectiveness of these elements in conflicts involving a non-state group, a selected non-state armed actors actions, in this case ISIS, will be evaluated by prioritizing the retributive rather than restorative elements of Transitional Justice. The findings of the study, although not general, suggest that Transitional Justice still lacks an effective and universal mechanism to punish violations and abuses by a non-state organization.

Keywords

transitional justice, jus post bellum, crimes against humanity, ISIS, crime of genocide, NSAA

IŞİD TERÖR ÖRGÜTÜNÜN GEÇİŞ DÖNEMİ ADALETİ ÇERÇEVESİNDE KISA TAHLİLİ

Abstract

20. yüzyılın son çeyreğinde ortaya çıkan Geçiş Dönemi Adaleti kavramı ,başlangıçta demokrasiye geçmekte olan toplumların geçmişteki insan hakları ihlalleri ile yüzleşmeleri ve adalet arayışları için kullanılmaktaysa da Soğuk Savaşın sona ermesinin ardından sayıları hızla artan silahlı çatışmalar bu kapsamın genişlemesini mecbur hale getirmiştir. Çatışmaların bitmesi için sadece silahların susması yeterli değildir ve kalıcı barış Geçiş Dönemi Adaleti mekanizmalarının (mağdurlar için adaletin temini, gruplar arasında uzlaşı, hakikat komisyonları gibi) etkin şekilde işletilmesiyle doğrudan bağlantılı gözükmektedir. Çalışmada bu bağlantıyı anlamlandırabilmek için öncelikle Geçiş Dönemi Adaletinin çatışma sonrası ortamlarda işleyişi ve mekanizmaları inceleyecektir. Ardından bu unsurların devlet-dışı bir grubun dahil olduğu çatışmalardaki etkinliğini tahlil etmek için seçilen Devlet-Dışı Silahlı Aktör olan IŞİD terör örgütünün eylemleri Geçiş Dönemi Adaletinin onarıcıdan ziyade cezalandırıcı unsurları ön planda tutularak değerlendirilecektir. Çalışmanın bulguları, genelleyici olmasa da Geçiş Dönemi Adaletinin devlet-dışı bir örgütün ihlal ve suistimallerini cezalandırmak hususunda halihazırda etkin ve evrensel bir mekanizmadan yoksun olduğunu düşündürmektedir.

Keywords

IŞİD, jus post bellum, geçiş dönemi adaleti, insanlığa karşı suçlar, DDSA

References

• Al-Hajj, T. (2022). The Islamic State (ISIS) has morphed into a non-spatial insurgency capable of conquering territorial boundaries. In: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
• American Convention on Human Rights, (1969). https://www.globalhealthrights.org/wpcontent/uploads/2013/10/American-Convention-on-Human-Rights-ACHR.pdf
• Azhar, H. (2015). Money Matters: Sources of ISIS’ Funding and How to Disrupt Them. In: Center for Geopolitics and Security in Realism Studies.
• Basic Principles And Guidelines on The Right To A Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law, (2008). https://legal.un.org/avl/pdf/ha/ga_60-147/ga_60-147_ph_e.pdf
• Bassiouni, M. C., Khader, A., & Kirsch, P. (2011). Report of the International Commission of Inquiry to investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. In U. G. Assembly (Ed.). Cassese, A., Fayek, M., Jilani, H., Ntsebeza, D., & Striggner-Scott, T. (2005). Report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur to the United Nations Secretary-General. In U. S. General (Ed.).
• Coker, M., & Hassan, F. (2018). A 10-Minute Trial, a Death Sentence: Iraqi Justice for ISIS Suspects. International New York Times, NA-NA. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/17/world/middleeast/iraq-isis-trials.html
• Constantinides, A. (2010). Human Rights Obligations and Accountability of Armed Opposition Groups: the Practice of the UN Security Council. Human Rights & International Legal Discourse, 4(1), 89-111. https://www.jurisquare.be/en/journal/hrild/4-1/humanrights-obligations-and-accountability-of-armed-opposition-groups-the-practice-of-theun-securi/ (Human Rights & International Legal Discourse(HR&ILD))
• Convention (IV) Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, (1949). https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/geneva07.asp
• Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, (1950). https://www.eeas.europa.eu/sites/default/files/convention_eng.pdf
• Do, Q.-T., Shapiro, J. N., Elvidge, C. D., Abdel-Jelil, M., Ahn, D. P., & Baugh, K. (2017). How Much Oil is the Islamic State Group Producing? Evidence from Remote Sensing. In W. B. Group (Ed.), Policy Research Working Paper.
• Drumbl, M. A. (2007). Atrocity, punishment, and international law. Cambridge University Press.
• Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, (1989). https://www.unodc.org/documents/commissions/CCPCJ/Crime_Resolutions/1980-1989/1989/ECOSOC/Resolution_1989-65.pdf
• Gissel, L. E. (2022). The standardisation of transitional justice. European Journal of International Relations, 28(4), 859-884. https://doi.org/10.1177/13540661221120980
• Glenn, C., Rowan, M., & Caves, J. (2016). Timeline: the Rise, Spread, and Fall of the Islamic State. In: Wilson Center.
• Goldstone, R., Jilani, H., Chinkin, C., & Travers, D. (2009). Human Rights in Palestine and Other Occupied Arab Territories: Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict. In UN (Ed.).
• Gürler, R. T., & Özdemir, Ö. B. (2014). El Kaide’den Post-Kaide’ye Dönüşüm: IŞİD. Türkiye Ortadoğu Çalışmaları Dergisi, 1(1), 113-154. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/tocd/issue/17161/179407
• Henckaerts, J.-M., & Doswald-Beck, L. (2005). Customary International Humanitarian Law (Vol. 1). International Committee of the Red Cross.
• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, (1966). https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/generalassembly/docs/globalcompact/A_RES_2200A(XXI)_economic.pdf
• Iraq: Flawed Prosecution of ISIS Suspects. (2017). https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/12/05/flawed-justice/accountability-isis-crimes-iraq#
• Lewis, J. D. (2013). AQI's Soldiers' Harvest" Campaign. In. Institute for the Study of War.
• Lister, C. (2014). Islamic State Senior Leadership: Who's Who. Brookings Institute. Retrieved 24.09.2021 from https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/en_whos_who.pdf
• Lopes, I. P. (2022). Making Criminal Trials Work for Transitional Settings: Combining Retributive and Restorative Justice to Overcome the Justice Versus Peace Dilemma Through the Lens of Colombia´ s Process Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (Portugal)].
• Macdonald, A. (2019). ‘Somehow This Whole Process Became so Artificial’: Exploring the Transitional Justice Implementation Gap in Uganda. International Journal of Transitional Justice, 13(2), 225-248.
• Mills, R., & Karasik, T. (2014, 02.08.2014). ISIS Makes Up To $3 Million a Day Selling Oil, Say Analysts [Interview]. https://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=24814359
• Naqvi, Y. (2006). The right to the truth in international law: fact or fiction? International Review of the Red Cross, 88(862), 29. https://international-review.icrc.org/sites/default/files/irrc_862_2.pdf
• Özay, N. (2019). Suriye İç Savaşı ve Devlet Dışı Silahlı Aktörlerin Sorumluluğu Gazi Üniversitesi]. Ankara.
• Pfiffner, J. P. (2010). US blunders in Iraq: De-Baathification and disbanding the army. Intelligence and National Security, 25(1), 76-85.
• Pinheiro, P., Koning AbuZayd, K., & del Ponte, C. (2016). “‘They came to destroy’: ISIS Crimes Against the Yazidis” (I. I. C. o. I. o. t. S. A. Republic, Trans.). In U. H. R. Council (Ed.).
• Pinheiro, P., Koning AbuZayd, K., del Ponte, C., & Muntarbhorn, V. (2014). Rule of Terror: Living under ISIS in Syria (I. I. C. o. I. o. t. S. A. Republic, Trans.). In U. H. R. Council (Ed.). Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts (1977). https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Treaty.xsp?documentId=AA0C5BCBAB5C4A85C12563CD002D6D09&action=openDocument
• Rauschenbach, M., & Scalia, D. (2008). Victims and international criminal justice: a vexed question? International Review of the Red Cross, 90(870), 441-459.
• Resolution 2249, (2015). https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/s_res_2249.pdf
• Roht-Arriaza, N., & Mariezcurrena, J. (2006). Transitional justice in the twenty-first century: beyond truth versus justice. Cambridge University press.
• Rome Statue of the International Criminal Court, (1998). https://legal.un.org/icc/statute/99_corr/cstatute.htm
• Rubio-Marín, R. (2009). The gender of reparations: unsettling sexual hierarchies while redressing human rights violations. Cambridge University Press.
• Russia and China veto UN move to refer Syria to ICC. (2014). BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-27514256
• The rule of law and transitional justice in conflict and post-conflict societies: Report of the Secretary-General, (2004). https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/PCS%20S%202004%20616.pdf
• Sharp, D. N. (2018). Rethinking Transitional Justice for the Twenty-First Century: Beyond the End of History. In: Cambridge University Press.
• Sly, L. (2014, 03.02.2014). Al-Qaeda disavows any ties with radical Islamist ISIS group in Syria, Iraq. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/al-qaeda-disavows-any-ties-with-radical-islamist-isis-group-in-syriairaq/2014/02/03/2c9afc3a-8cef-11e3-98ab-fe5228217bd1_story.html
• Sooka, Y., Scott, K. R., & Musila, G. M. (2017). Report of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan. In U. G. Assembly (Ed.).
• Subotić, J. (2012). The transformation of international transitional justice advocacy. International Journal of Transitional Justice, 6(1), 106-125.
• Thakkar, M., & Speckhard, A. (2022). Breaking the Walls: The Threat of ISIS Resurgence as Social Media Fuels Fundraising in ISIS Women’s Camps. In (22.03.2022 ed.).
• Turner, C. (2016). Violence, law and the impossibility of transitional justice. Routledge.
• Turns, D. (2018). The Law of Armed Conflict (International Humanitarian Law). In International Law. https://doi.org/10.1093/he/9780198791836.003.0027
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights, (1948). https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
• Varney, H., & Zdunczyk, K. (2020). Advancing Global Accountability
• The Role of Universal Jurisdiction in Prosecuting International Crimes. https://www.ictj.org/sites/default/files/ICTJ_Report_Universal_Jurisdiction.pdf
• Vinjamuri, L., & Snyder, J. (2015). Law and politics in transitional justice. Annual Review of Political Science, 18(1), 303-327.
• Von Bogdandy, A., & Dellavalle, S. (2010). The Paradigms of Universalism and Particularism in the Age of Globalisation: Western Perspectives on the Premises and Finality of International Law. In Collected Courses of the Xiamen Academy of International Law, Volume 2 (2009) (s. 45-127). Brill Nijhoff.
• What is Transitional Justice? A Backgrounder. (2008). https://www.un.org/peacebuilding/sites/www.un.org.peacebuilding/files/documents/26_02_2008_background_note.pdf