Youth Engagement in the Solomon Islands TRC Process
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Renée Jeffery
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Abstract
This chapter examines the unique contributions made by youth participants at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in the Solomon Islands. In doing so, it challenges the rigid victim/perpetrator binaries traditionally employed to describe young people’s participation in transitional justice. These identity descriptors become problematic when they fail to account for the realities of youth’s conflict experiences. This chapter argues that youth are political actors with the capacity to contribute to transitional justice in diverse and surprising ways. It suggests that understanding their interests and motivations, distinct from children, provides a more holistic and inclusive narrative of youth in transitional contexts. In the Solomon Islands, the inclusion of youth hearings at the TRC provided young people with a forum to construct their justice narrative, distinct from children. Yet, the Final Report’s chapter on children held steadfast to the rigid victim/perpetrator classifications. This chapter draws on the language used by different stakeholders at the TRC to highlight the complexities associated with creating a holistic narrative of youth participation. With this in mind, it examines the challenges associated with the emergence of competing conflict narratives, specifically, the stories told about youth and those by youth.
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Transitional Justice in Practice: Conflict, Justice, and Reconciliation in the Solomon Islands
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International Relations