testimony

Public Audiences

bharris — Fri, 25 May 2007 20:08:11 -0500

Public Audiences: Creating Space to Recognize Victims of Internal Conflict in Peru

By Sofia Macher, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Peru

Download full notebook below. [*note]

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Peru is one of the most recent experiences of processes of transitional justice, institutionalized with the aim of exploring the truth hidden behind a past characterized by massive abuse of human rights. One of the central activities in this process is the Public Audiences, created with the aim of legitimizing and dignifying the personal experiences of the victims in order to support the therapeutic and recuperative work on their behalf.

The TRC was created by the President of the transitional government in June of 2001. It was made up of 12 commission members, all Peruvians, and duration of two years. It did not count on jurisdictional powers: its mandate was to document the grave violations of human rights committed during the twenty years (1980-2000) of the internal armed conflict. However, the Public Audiences were formal sessions in which a victim or family member of a victim would give an account of what had happened before a group of people that had the ethical authority stemming from the State to listen and express their solidarity and acknowledgement. Unlike other Truth Commissions, the purpose of these sessions was not for investigation, but instead an audience for the restitution of rights, of citizenship, and of dignity for the victim, an audience to listen in respectful silence, lending ears to and giving voice to those who had never before been given such things. All these people were assaulted by the State that had the obligation to protect them, and were later rejected by society. Many of them were displaced to other areas, condemned to fear, to silence that broke with the social support of their own communities. The Public Audiences are, so to speak, a step towards the restitution of this so necessary support. But the audiences also had an effect on society itself. Knowing a personal history, one that is parallel to the official history -- that until that moment everyone had believed and known -- had a much greater impact than the Commission’s final report could have ever had. Having heard hundreds of testimonies from different areas of the country, it put on the table the horror to which no Peruvian could feel unconnected.

This notebook shares the way in which the TRC in Peru implemented its Public Audiences in order to dignify the victims, contributing to the general recuperation of society. Certainly there are similarities with other processes and experiences (South Africa or Nigeria, for example), but there are also new aspects that are important since a new format was created that permitted Peru to begin a process of laying the foundations to generate change in the interior of the State, and also in society itself. The lessons of this experience can be useful for any focused process, more so in reconstructing the psychosocial fabric of the people and the victimized society, than in blaming the perpetrators. It is also helpful here to emphasize the effort of the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) to support these learning processes.

*Note: You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the files marked with an asterisk (*). You can download a free version of this program from www.adobe.com.

Open Memory

bharris — Fri, 25 May 2007 20:08:08 -0500

Open Memory

By Damian Ferrari

Download full notebook below.[*note]

Read how Memoria Abierta (Open Memory), a human rights organization in Argentina, organizes thousands of documents related to the state terrorism and makes them accessible through an online database as a way to raise public awareness about what happened in Argentina from 1976-1983.

I'll Walk Beside You

bharris — Fri, 25 May 2007 20:08:04 -0500

I’ll Walk Beside You

by Glenda Wildschut and Paul Haupt

Download full notebook below. [*note]

In this notebook Glenda Wildschut and Paul Haupt outline the victim accompaniment process for the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) that developed the concept of "briefers" to install a victim-friendly process. Victims were provided with the opportunity to testify and be supported before, during and after the process. The TRC selected briefers–chosen from the caring professions, such as ministers, social workers and nurses–from the community to provide this support. The briefers acted as volunteers and were trained to perform various tasks with regard to the entire structural process of the TRC. As a consequence of the sustained, supportive work of the briefers during the entire process, victims better understood their legal, emotional and practical position.

Thus, they felt they owned the process and were able to contribute in an important way by making recommendations about reparations. Briefers could be utilized in many settings–e.g. those involving domestic violence or rape, and tribunals court systems–where vulnerable victims need mediation and support to overcome traumatic experiences and especially in processes that involve perpetrators as well.

Between 1995 and 1998, 21,529 people gave statements to the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).1 The thousands of hours of hearings were broadcast publicly and became the most watched programming in South African television history. Testifiers recounted the horrors of 34 years of apartheid and repression, bringing to light the contours of a national trauma, and the details of thousands of individuals’ suffering. Testifying publicly about one’s own personal trauma is itself a terribly difficult experience. The TRC committed itself to creating a process that was friendly and accommodating for victims. Part of this process was a program of "briefing" for people coming forth to testify. Thousands of people were accompanied before, during and after their testimony by volunteers trained in psychosocial support as well as in the legal and practical realities of the hearing process. The goal was to provide the necessary support to make the experience of testifying an empowering one that would help in the victim’s longer-term healing process, rather than contribute to renewed suffering.

The briefing process had positive effects on three different levels. On the individual level, it helped the testifiers overcome their apprehensions, avoid secondary trauma, process their painful past and move on with their lives. On a community level, it helped train community members to assist in the psychosocial healing process of the testifiers, while also bringing whole communities together to process and heal from their mutually shared past experiences. And finally, on a national level, the briefing helped the Truth Commission achieve its goal of creating a victim-friendly process that would promote national healing for a traumatised nation. On each of these levels, there are lessons to be learned that may be applicable in other contexts.

*Note: You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the files marked with an asterisk (*). You can download a free version of this program from www.adobe.com.