Source: (2001) In Victim policies and criminal justice on the road to restorative justice: Essays in honour of Tony Peters, ed. E. Fattah and S. Parmentier, 401-428. With an introduction by E. Fattah and S. Parmentier. Leuven, Belgium: Leuven University Press.
The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) conducted its work from 1995 to 1998. A vast amount of commentary has been generated on the TRC, particularly on its endeavors with respect to the first component of its name – the pursuit of truth. Stephan Parmentier believes that less attention has been paid to its efforts with respect to the second component – reconciliation – though the TRC dealt extensively with this notion in its report. Additionally, in its report the TRC explicitly linked truth and reconciliation with restorative justice. This is noteworthy because restorative justice stems from a very different background, namely, the field of criminology and criminal justice. Hence, in this paper, Parmentier asks whether the work of the TRC, with its focus on the violation of human rights, can be understood as a form of restorative justice. Thus, Parmentier explores the intersection of these distinct perspectives – restorative justice and the field of human rights.
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