Source: (1999) Paper to be delivered at a conference hosted by the History Workshop and the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) , on The TRC: Commissioning the Past, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 11-14 June 1999. Downloaded 17 October 2003.
Despite the international community’s commitment to “Never again!â€? following the World War II war trials, massive human rights atrocities have occurred in Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and elsewhere. In this context, Rakate identifies two broad approaches to dealing with the past when a country emerges from a period of human rights violations. One approach is based on retributive justice, characterized by criminal trials to punish perpetrators. The other approach is based on restorative justice, characterized by reconciliation and amnesty through a truth-telling process. Rakate locates the approach to violations in the former Yugoslavia in retributive justice, and the approach to violations in South Africa in restorative justice. This leads to comparison of the approaches pursued in the former Yugoslavia and in South Africa to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each as a form of transitional justice.
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