Emulating South African Truth And Reconciliation Commission

December 1, 2013

By Austin Fernando -December 1, 2013

Austin Fernando

Just after the Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting (CHOGM), South African President Jacob Zuma had proposed a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) for Sri Lanka. He was to discuss it with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). Though there had been several Truth Commissions globally, the South African TRC is the best mind-booster when post-conflict justice and reconciliation are considered.

Already there are some who project the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) grabbing this proposal in good faith. Another presents GOSL’s ulterior motives as one way out of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) quagmire in March 2014.

Motivation for TRC

Mentioning of TRC before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), I quoted the preamble of the South African Act No. 34 of 1995 Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation. It read as:

“To provide for the investigation and the establishment of as complete a picture as possible of the nature, committed during the period from March 1, 1960 to the cutoff date contemplated in the Constitution, within or outside the Republic, emanating from the conflicts of the past, and the fate or whereabouts of the victims of such violations; the granting of amnesty to persons who will make full disclosure of all the relevant facts relating to acts associated with the political objective committed in the course of the conflict of the past during the said period; affording victims an opportunity to relate the violations they suffered; the taking of measures aimed at the granting of reparation to, and the rehabilitation and the restoration of the human and the civil dignity of victims of violation of human rights; reporting to the nation about such violations and victims; the making of recommendations aimed at the prevention of the Commission of gross violations of human rights; and for the said purposes to provide for the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a Committee on Human Rights Violations, a Committee on Amnesty and a Committee on Reparation and Rehabilitation; and to confer certain powers on assigned certain functions to and impose certain duties upon that Commission and those Committees; and to provide for matters connected therewith.”

TRC objectives in Sri Lankan context                                 Read More