Constitutional Law

The National Reconciliation Process : The Role of Religious Bodies

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Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (TRCs) as they are known worldwide have
become the mode by which nations with a troubled past are seeking to come to terms
with their past, and make amends for past misdeeds done in the name of the state, to
fellow citizens. This trend has been set by developments in the field of human rights
occasioned by the rise in Natural Law philosophies and the re-kindling of the philosophy
of the Social Contract between citizens and the state. This renewed appreciation of the
responsibility of the state for all its citizens - even those who have not been good - has in
tum created the opportunity for persons who suffered human rights abuses under
authoritarian regimes to complain, and to demand reparation for whatever they suffered
through the instrumentality of the state. Again the realisation that such hurts produce
bitterness and negative feelings that can be passed on from generation to generation and
thus have the capacity to undermine national cohesion and the eventual stability of the
state, has in turn spawned a worldwide movement to demand justice for such victims
from the state, and an acknowledgement of their sufferings in order to obviate the
necessity for them to seek justice on their own terms. It must have been for such concerns
that the Catholic Bishops Conference of 1992 expressed dismay at the Transitional
Provisions that sought to indemnify acts of wrongdoing of all types done or purported to
have been done in the name of the state.

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31pp

Language

English

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Subject(s)

Human rights

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