Truth and Reconciliation Processes: Aiding community healing through addressing impunity
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Post Marzo 11th, 2008 por New Tactics

Featured Dialogue: Truth and Reconciliation Processes: Aiding Community Healing through Addressing Impunity March 26 – April 1

Table of Contents

The following table of contents was developed to make the dialogue easier to navigate. Important themes and different discussions have been highlighted for archival purposes and for new users. The preferred method of viewing the comments is with "Thread list - expanded" option, which is explained here. Resources mentioned in the Dialogue can be found on this page.

 

Defining and Justifying

Examples

Working with Truth

 

Aspects of a TRC

Afterwards


Intro

New Tactics in Human Rights’ featured online discussion for March will focus on ways in which Truth and Reconciliation processes have and are being implemented to aid community healing.

Some fundamental concepts behind Truth and Reconcilation (TRC) processes include: 1) future reconciliation is necessary for there to be a peaceful co-existence in a country or community; 2) that reconciliation and peaceful coexistence rest upon knowing as complete a picture as possible of the nature, causes and extent of gross violations of human rights that have been committed; and 3) there must be public recognition of the truth that had been hidden for so long by a multitude of falsehoods.

This dialogue seeks to share experiences transitional justice processes known as Truth and Reconciliation Commissions, instituted with the aim of exploring the truth hidden behind pasts characterized by gross abuses of human rights. The conflicts experienced in the countries and contexts of our resource people have unique and particular characteristics. However, we believe that the sharing of these experiences and those of the broader New Tactics community who take part in this dialogue will yield useful lessons for other contexts considering the use of TRC process. Because the effects that violence has on people are always devastating - rippling from the individual to the family to the community to the nation; they demand a treatment that is not only individual, but collective.

There are many questions of importance for our dialogue and we look forward to the many questions that will be raised by the participants. A foundational, and often contentious, question is "What do we mean by ‘truth’?" and as a result, "How do TRC processes deal with the unraveling of differing histories, truths and memories?"

Join our featured resource people and share your own experiences, insights and questions. (Click here for help on how to participate in the dialogue)

Our featured resource people include:

Galuh Wandita Jose Caetano Guterres Patrick Burgess Jennifer Prestholdt Ahmed K. Sirleaf II Laura Young

Sofia Macher Greensboro Glenda Wildschut Paul Haupt Binta Barry

Row1 L-R: Galuh Wandita, Jose Caetano Guterres, and Patrick Burgess (East Timor TRC); Jennifer Prestholdt, Ahmed K. Sirleaf II, and Laura Young (Liberia Diaspora Project Team)

Row2 L-R: Sofia Macher (Peru TRC); Greensboro TRC process team; Glenda Wildschut, and Paul Haupt (South Africa TRC); Neneh Barry (Sierra Leone TRC)

More biographical information

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Imagen de Sofia Macher

The Post TRC

Enviado por Sofia Macher el Sáb, 03/29/2008 - 19:42.

 

  • When we planing the work of the TRC in Peru, we first reviewed the experience of other TRC in the world, but especially those in Latin America. The problem in all of them was the complaint that did not follow its recommendations. 
  • Former TRC in Latin America, habian developed a close process.
  • This was a key decision for us promote an open TRC process, as a guarantee to develop the solidarity of society with the victims. We were confident that should leave initiated processes in the society to ensure its continuity even after the end of the TRC. 

 

  • In addition to the public hearings. Workshops were held for consultation and various working groups and many of them are still working so far, and without the TRC. 
  • For example, workshops to gather ideas on the concept of reconciliation, with other victims' organizations, to develop the proposal for repairs, a specialized group to work exhumations, which together with the judiciary and the  human rights NGOs, the beginning of a campaign "Peruvians missing" to complete the list of missing ...... 
  • Many of them have continued their work and have formed groups for specialized topics that continue to push the issues. The strongest are those of repairs, and now we have a law to repair and official bodies responsible for this issue. And the human rights NGOs have continued pushing the 47 cases presented by the TRC to the courts, all of whom are under way 
  • I believe that in Peru are the two institutions that somehow come marking the post TRC, the national coordinator of the human rights institutions in almost the entire country and the Ombudsman as an official entity that received the TRC documentary and  being done to follow up the recommendations 
  • There are major advances in justice and repair, but we have big deficit on the issue of institutional reforms, which are the keys to changing the big problems of exclusion in Peru and that is the key to imagine a reconciliation of the country 

Sofia Macher