discussed as a matter of transitional justice, they do not seem to aim at achieving a political transition or other forms of fundamental transformation. These measures are nonetheless important because they can serve legitimate purposes, such as providing victims with redress and may lead to public acknowledgement of the past wrongdoing.7 At the same time, it is necessary to critically analyze how consolidated democracies
define their needs to address gross human rights violations. Consolidated democracies often support transitional justice, including criminal accountability processes, in developing countries, but this does not necessarily mean these countries are willing to hold accountable their own nationals for serious ongoing abuses, committed for example in the context of the War against Terrorism. Although it may be unrealistic to expect that the ICC will target powerful states in the West, the selective application of the transitional justice paradigm in some of these countries certainly merits a discussion of how other actors can advance justice for crimes that the state has no interest in addressing.