‘Quiet’ Transitional Justice: ‘Publicness’, Trust and Legitimacy in the Search for the ‘Disappeared’

Abstract

There is a pragmatic value to developing Transitional Justice (TJ) processes quietly. At first glance, such ‘quietness’ may seem to contradict the principles often associated with TJ, such as ‘publicness’, openness and the leaving behind of secrecy and silence. However, I argue that behind-the-scenes efforts and processes are an often-overlooked part of more public-facing TJ mechanisms, and that their quiet nature raises questions that should be more fully understood, particularly around the notions of trust and legitimacy. This article introduces the notion of ‘quiet’ TJ, drawing on the example of the establishment of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains – established to locate the remains of Northern Ireland’s ‘disappeared’. I argue that quiet diplomatic efforts in the development of legislation, and the ‘quiet’ passage of that legislation, facilitated the development of a workable mechanism which has, to a large extent, been effective, has facilitated (limited) truth recovery and the development of trust and can be argued to have legitimacy.