Justice From the Margins: Feminist NGOs and Transitional Justice for Survivors of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Serbia

Abstract

Thirty years after the Yugoslav wars, transitional justice in Serbia remains minimal. A dominant ideology of Serb victimhood and persistent patriarchal norms have obstructed public recognition of survivors of conflict-related sexual violence. This thesis asks: how do Serbian feminist NGOs contest dominant narratives of patriarchy and nationalism and construct alternative forms of transitional justice for conflict-related sexual violence? Focusing on Women in Black, the Autonomous Women’s Centre and the Youth Initiative for Human Rights, it extends theory on feminist transitional justice by examining how justice is articulated discursively in contexts of denial. To research this, the thesis applies critical discourse analysis to NGO reports, public statements and social-media posts and complements this with two semi-structured interviews with activists. These sources are used to trace practices across domestic, regional and international levels. Findings show that NGOs enact critical agency by publicly naming Serb perpetration and consistently demanding inclusive legal recognition of survivors. Creative agency shows through setting up independent spaces for education, amplifying messages through online campaigns and regional collaboration, and setting up an alternative justice forum. Transformative agency is primarily seen in discursive and small-scale impact, through survivor-centred justice such as the Women’s Court. These results offer insight into how agency differs on scales of advocacy and the possibilities marginalised actors have for enacting bottom-up transitional justice in restricting spaces. They demonstrate that bottom-up activism is essential in creating discursive space but remains marginal if support from more powerful actors is absent.