Truth, justice and reconciliation after civil conflicts

Alber Dagger
Over the past two decades, there have been many literature on issues of truth, justice and reconciliation after civil wars, or experiences of collective political violence. The experiences of the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, South Africa and Argentina have shown different ways of linking truth and justice and reconciliation. In all these cases, truth disclosed past commissions as an input, either to reconciliation and amnesty as in southern Africa, to prosecution as in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, or to societal accountability as in Argentina.

Uncovering the Truth
In the cases mentioned and others, it was the starting point, knowing the past. In the Southern African experience, "Truth and Reconciliation Commissions", perpetrators acknowledged what they had done. They did not have judicial authority. It has made it possible to form a national archive of commissions. Ultimately, it was possible to present a uniform written version of the truth (Pankhurst, 1999:241).

In the case of Yugoslavia, the truth was uncovered in the context of the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY), which was established by Security Council resolution 1993, and which prosecuted the main perpetrators of crimes against humanity committed. However, the fact remains limited, with civil society activists and the European Union Parliament proposing the establishment of a regional "Truth and Reconciliation Commission", including current States in the field of conflict, to complement the task of justice and work for unmet reconciliation (Zebari, 2012:10). In the case of Rwanda, it was possible to know the full truth from the confessions of the perpetrators before the Gacaca, which belong to Rwandas legacy of conflict resolution and reconciliation and which provided the State with the necessary legal legitimacy to address the impact of the 1994 massacres, and whose members were elected from the local population. The massacres accounted for about 1 million people, and 120 thousand people were arrested (Clark, 2012:3). The countrys 11 thousand domestic courts handed down sentences for some 400 thousand perpetrators. The cost of domestic courts over a period of ten years was approximately 40 million, while the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which was also established by Security Council decision and prosecuted 69 senior officials over 15 years, cost about 1 billion (ibid.: 7).

Establishment of "truth commissions"
Rule for all countries emerging from conflict
In Argentina, the confessions of one of the officers involved in the concealment and killing of 30,000 Argentines affiliated with the "left", in the "war on sabotage" initiated by the 1976 coup d état, set in motion a new need, beginning in 1995, to uncover the truth after two decades of silence (Van Dronan, 2010:89). The generals who led the coup d état had been prosecuted and imprisoned in 1985, then released by President Menem in 1990. During President Alfonsans reign, there were two laws prohibiting prosecution of lower ranks, as they carried out orders. Menem added to the two laws two presidential pardons benefiting the coup leaders and several hundred defendants. Then things stayed there, until the revenge officer hindered the promotion of his comrades, revealed the truth to the citizens audience on television. This was followed by an era of mobilization among political parties and human rights organizations, which prompted the State to recognize peoples right to know the truth and allowed cases to be filed for disclosure (truth trials). The courts agreed to initiate proceedings, with a view to prompting defendants to disclose what they had done, without giving rise to legal proceedings against them, by virtue of their testimony to the two presidential acts and pardons previously issued (ibid.: 98).

Different approaches to the relationship between truth, justice and reconciliation
The most well-known among different approaches to dealing with the consequences of civil conflicts is the experience of southern Africa. This is for the sake of truth and reconciliation, or truth with amnesty. The disclosure of truth and the recognition of perpetrators by those responsible for crimes were pardons or forgiveness in the Christian sense of the word, and reconciliation. The presence of Bishop Desmond Tutu at the heart of that context gave the South African experience its specificity. It has given great importance to forgiveness as an alternative to justice (Pankhurst: 245). It was the apps most successful. In Rwandas experience, the idea of justice has advanced beyond it, that is, the prosecution of perpetrators, following the formation of the truth about commissions, without attention to reconciliation (ibid.: 252). The approach between truth and justice, i.e. the prosecution of perpetrators, overshadowed the experience of States emanating from the former Yugoslavia. The number of officials brought to trial by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Yugoslavia, starting with the President of Serbia, Milosevic, was 161 (Zebari: 2). In the case of Argentina, activists of human rights organizations and political parties have linked the deterioration of Argentinas democracy to the aggravation of abuses by the security services, to the complacency of the judiciary, to the increasing lack of accountability and impunity, and to the amnesty granted to those responsible for acts of aggression during the dictatorship. They found that the focus on accountability and impunity improves the functioning of the political system under which they live (Van Dronan: 96). In 1998, Parliament repealed the previous amnesty laws and retained the perpetrators right not to be prosecuted. The experience initiated a somewhat unique approach to "community accounting" (Smilowitz and Prizotti, 2000; ODonnell, 1998), aimed at making "society a prison for perpetrators". The activists investigated and detected the perpetrators and held sit-ins and demonstrations in front of the perpetrators homes (Van Dronan: 102).

Lebanon and Truth Disclosure
In Pankhursts view, the formation of "truth commissions" is a rule that works in the case of all countries emerging from civil conflicts or experiences of mass violence. They sometimes play the role of alternative prosecutions for justice (Pankhurst: 249). International institutions are restoring Lebanons experience of political violence during and after the civil war. It issues reports on the cost of not dealing with the past (Picar and Rumsbutham, 2012; International Centre, 2013 and 2014). Researcher Pankhurst stated that the national reporting requirements of different countries funded by international actors were often inadequate, especially for the time limits given for their preparation (Pankhurst: 247).

This is manifested in the insignificance and futility of these actors work. The Elian monk film dedicated to "Finding the Truth" abbreviates the case of Lebanon. A former militia willing to apologize to his victims, seeking truth, is subjected to his temperament. Decides what he wishes to say and what he does not want to restore. Acknowledgement of responsibility for the death of others diverts some kind of slapstick.

The word "slapstick" also corrects the description of the political elite and the States engagement with the truth about war.

* Lebanese researcher