scholarly journals A Faith that Does Justice: Truth and Reconciliation Commissions in El Salvador and Guatemala

Elements ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie Schermerhorn
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
El Salvador ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Analysis And Evaluation ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commissions ◽  
Latin American Countries

After the first truth and reconciliation commission was implemented in South Africa, the model was applied to other war-torn regions and countries worldwide, including many Latin American countries such as El Salvador and Guatemala. As a political body centered in a Christian paradigm, a TRC aims to procure personal and collective healing. Yet, as a relatively new trend in conflict resolution, it merits further analysis and evaluation. By investigating the meaning of the terms justice, forgiveness, and reconciliation in both the religious and political contexts, the study can better name the goals and outcomes of political healing processes in the last decade. Aditionally, it is imperative to identify these strengths and weaknesses of past directives in order to avoid further "spurious reconciliation." If the truth alone proves insufficient, this essay attmpts to determine what then is the efficacy of future commissions.

A Different Kind of Justice: Dealing with Human Rights Violations in Transitional Societies

1999 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 65-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Little
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Restorative Justice ◽  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
Retributive Justice ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Transitional Societies ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commissions ◽  
Exclusive Or

In “transitional societies” like South Africa and Bosnia, which are currently moving from authoritarianism, and often violent repression, to democracy, questions arise about the appropriate way to deal with serious human rights offenders. Will a system of retributive justice bring about the healing and harmony necessary for peace and stability? Or, is “a different kind of justice” required, one explicitly aimed at reconciliation, and designed to repair and restore relations, and, perhaps, to forgive offenders rather than prosecute them? Are the systems mutually exclusive, or can they be combined in some way?In an effort to clarify terms and sharpen practical choices, this essay distinguishes between retributive and restorative justice and relates the distinction to constructive proposals concerning the ideas of forgiveness and reconciliation. The essay then applies the proposed framework to two recent efforts to cope with the problem: the truth and reconciliation commissions of South Africa and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Using African Truth and Reconciliation Commission documentation for truth telling and reconciliation

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Proscovia Svärd
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Truth Telling ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commissions ◽  
Reconciliation Process

Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (TRCs) are established to document violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in post-conflict societies. The intent is to excavate the truth to avoid political speculations and create an understanding of the nature of the conflict. The documentation hence results in a common narrative which aims to facilitate reconciliation to avoid regression to conflict. TRCs therefore do a tremendous job and create compound documentation that includes written statements, interviews, live public testimonies of witnesses and they also publish final reports based on the accumulated materials. At the end of their mission, TRCs recommend the optimal use of their documentation since it is of paramount importance to the reconciliation process. Despite this ambition, the TRCs’ documentation is often politicized and out of reach for the victims and the post-conflict societies at large. The TRCs’ documentation is instead poorly diffused into the post conflict societies and their findings are not effectively disseminated and used.

Disappointed Remains: Trauma, Testimony, and Reconciliation in Post-apartheid South Africa

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Field
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Trauma Survivors ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Apartheid Regime ◽  
Democratic Elections

The apartheid regime in South Africa and the fight against the same, followed by the reconciliation is the crux of this article. The first democratic elections held on April 27, 1994, were surprisingly free of violence. Then, in one of its first pieces of legislation, the new democratic parliament passed the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act of 1995, which created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. At the outset, the South African TRC promised to “uncover the truth” about past atrocities, and forge reconciliation across a divided country. As oral historians, we should consider the oral testimonies that were given at the Human Rights Victim hearings and reflect on the reconciliation process and what it means to ask trauma survivors to forgive and reconcile with perpetrators. This article cites several real life examples to explain the trauma and testimony of apartheid and post-apartheid Africa with a hint on the still prevailing disappointments and blurred memories.

scholarly journals Truth and reconciliation in South Africa: Hindu experiences and concerns

2004 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
P.G.J. Meiring
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Faith Communities ◽  
The South ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Hindu Community ◽  
The Way

The author who served on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), focuses on the Hindu experience in South Africa during the apartheid years. At a special TRC Hearing for Faith Communities (East London, 17-19 November 1997) two submissions by local Hindu leaders were tabled. Taking his cues from those submissions, the author discusses four issues: the way the Hindu community suffered during these years, the way in which some members of the Hindu community supported the system of apartheid, the role of Hindus in the struggle against apartheid, and finally the contribution of the Hindu community towards reconciliation in South Africa. In conclusion some notes on how Hindus and Christians may work together in th

Transitional Justice, Truth and Reconciliation: An Under-Explored Relationship

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janine Natalya Clark
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Criminal Trials ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commissions ◽  
Conflict Reconciliation

AbstractMuch of the literature on transitional justice suffers from a critical impact gap, which scholars are only now beginning to address. One particular manifestation of this aforementioned gap, and one which forms the particular focus of this article, is the frequently-cited yet empirically under-researched claim that "truth" fosters post-conflict reconciliation. Theoretically and empirically critiquing this argument, this article both questions the comprehensiveness of truth established through criminal trials and truth and reconciliation commissions (TRCs) and underscores the often overlooked problem of denial, thus raising fundamental questions about the reputed healing properties of truth in such contexts. Advocating the case for evidence-based transitional justice, it reflects upon empirical research on South Africa's TRC and the author's own work on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

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