Source: (-0001) World Council of Churches. Downloaded 10 August 2005.
In the last years we have been witnesses of how Truth and Reconciliation Commissions
(TRC) spread around the world1. It is interesting to note the addition of the word
“Reconciliation†to these Commissions. Truth Commissions have been an instrument to deal
with issues related to human rights violations in more than twenty countries in the last three
decades2. But only in the last one, after the South African Truth and Reconciliation
Commission, these two concepts have become a “trade mark†of these initiatives.
This addition has not been done without strong discussions. In the Peruvian case, for instance,
many human rights organizations still question the inclusion of this concept. For many, it is
only a Christian perspective that instead of adding something to Truth weakens the process of
pursuing justice.
Therefore, if we are for a Centre for Justice and Reconciliation (CJR), we should make it clear
that Reconciliation not only does not diminish the importance of Justice but opens it to a
different dimension, which includes restorative processes, reparations and healing.
It is important, however to admit that the resistance to include reconciliation has historical
bases. In some cases the voices of the churches have called for reconciliation requesting that
facts from the past should be forgotten. But these facts included summary executions, torture,
and disappearance!(excerpt)
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