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Talk:Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Africa)

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There are now truth and reconcilliation committees active in numerous countries around the world. All of which are involved in very interesting activities. What would people think of turning this page into a disambiguity page? grefft 23:08, Dec 24, 2004 (UTC)

My feeling is that this page should remain as documentation of the original TRC. The top of the page does link to other versions, but these are seldom called the Truth and Reconciliation Commissison, partly because they are usually not in English Speaking countries. --Magicmike 23:53, 28 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I've rehashed and revisited an edit that had been reverted without discussion. I also think it might be helpful to begin a discussion on this page about the general issues surrounding this edit. The case of the family of Steve Biko was arguably the most high-profile example of victims of Apartheid atrocities objecting to the TRC on principled grounds. Biko's family contested his killers' application for amnesty on the basis that it violated a fundamental principle (enshrined in international law, albeit somewhat in vain) that victims cannot be deprived of their right to justice, whatever the perceived benefit for the greater good. Many other victims' families made the same point. As we can see from the BBC article quoted, such objections were often characterised as a "misunderstanding" of the TRC.

But the sources available do not provide any evidence that Biko's family - or any other - "misunderstood" the TRC, or its mandate. It seems that the family's point was precisely that they did understand the TRC's mandate - which was to offer amnesty in the hope of getting "truth" in exchange - but that they objected to it; or at least they objected to the "amnesty" part of it... To imply that the Biko family's position was based on a "misunderstanding", in the absence of concrete evidence, is neither NPOV, nor fair.

I think it would benefit this article if we could allow a serious, evidence-based, outline of the principled objections that were made about various aspects of the TRC, and try to get away from characterising, a priori, anyone who criticised the process as guilty of "misunderstanding" it.

What was the TRC and why was it necessary for the South African government to heal the wounds of the past political experience between 1960-1994 41.246.26.219 (talk) 13:14, 1 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]