How Humanitarian and Stabilization Actors Contribute (Unwittingly?) to Post-Conflict Justice

Abstract

Abstract The construction of victimhood after conflict is contentious and relies in part upon public recognition. This article argues that humanitarian and stabilization actors often provide this recognition and thereby contribute to the construction of post-conflict conceptions of victimhood. It analyses how key operational documents produced by humanitarian and stabilization actors in Iraq during the period of conflict with the Islamic State (2014–2017) constructed and recognized a particular profile of victim, and only certain perpetrators. This resulted in the exclusion and silencing of complex victims and contributed to the tolerance of violence directed against them. The article concludes with some reflections on the implications of these findings for practitioners.