Paper short abstract:

Current mechanisms of transitional justice remain distant and insensitive to the needs of people in Africa's relational communities. Using Liberia as a case, this paper explores ways in which the concept of relational justice can address their limitations and complement them.

Paper long abstract:

Ongoing approaches to transitional justice in Africa, crafted under the hegemonic dominance of formal-legal retribution, rarely deliver the kind of justice needed to repair divisions in post-conflict societies. Invariably, the conflicts to which transitional justice measures are applied on the continent occur in relational communities where relationships matter. In such contexts, characterized by strong kinship ties and shared sense of community, it is relational justice, the justice form that transforms damaged relationships, that is sought. This is because injustice is considered as a fundamental source and consequence of broken relationships. Thus, justice is served when remedial actions repair broken and acrimonious relations, restoring ruptured communal unity and harmony. Despite its sensitivity to and relevance for local needs, there is a dearth of empirical research that explores how relational justices might work to promote justice and reconciliation after conflicts. Using Liberia's Palava Hut as a case, this paper makes a case for broadening the concept of transitional justice through a focus on relational justice. The Palava Hut is widely practiced in Liberia's relational communities where it has evolved as an effective mechanism of justice. Its utility as a transitional justice measure will be tested from a relational justice perspective. The paper contends that relational justice can complement and elaborate the efforts of criminal prosecution and truth commissions. Although truth commissions appear as a corrective to the limitations of retributive justice, they usually focus on victims and perpetrators at the expense of the community, while raising questions about their ownership and legitimacy.