Seeking Justice After Disasters
Megan Bradley
Project Description
In recent decades, the pursuit of accountability for massive human rights violations has emerged as a key concern in global politics. At the same time, the severity of natural disasters has increased dramatically. While disasters inevitably entail losses, many are also characterized by grave injustices. For example, post-disaster assistance may be inadequate, discriminatory, or non-existent, as in the case of Cyclone Nargis in Burma, where the regime purposefully denied its citizens life-saving aid. Although disasters are often the site of systematic violations and can catalyze major transitions, grave injustices associated with disasters have rarely been addressed through transitional justice processes, and few have questioned this exclusion. Accordingly, Dr. Bradley is examining in this project the relationship between natural disasters and transitional justice. The first article from this project, entitled "More than Misfortune – Natural Disasters and Transitional Justice," appeared in the International Journal of Transitional Justice in 2017.