Divisive Documents: Exploring the Local Impact of Legal Documents in Transitional Justice Contexts

ABSTRACT∞ This article explores how legal documents impact communities undergoing transitional justice efforts, focusing on their potential to acquire new meanings beyond their intended purpose. Through the case of the locally dubbed ‘victim cards’ distributed by the International Criminal Court in Odek, Northern Uganda, during the trial of former Lord’s Resistance Army commander Dominic Ongwen, the study examines how these cards shape survivors’ experiences of international criminal justice. The findings indicate that possession – or lack – of a victim card in Odek impacts individual experiences of security or insecurity, and visibility or invisibility, demonstrating how such documents influence perceptions of justice and, by extension, trust in the court itself. Moreover, the findings suggest that the distribution of physical cards may have inadvertently fuelled local tensions, potentially undermining reconciliation efforts and sustainable peace among community members in Odek. The article advocates for greater bureaucratic transparency within victim communities to mitigate such risks and ensure that international criminal justice processes contribute meaningfully to reconciliation and peacebuilding efforts following mass atrocities.