TRC

Liberia’s reconstruction is going full steam ahead – but the people appear to be left behind. 

South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), founded in 2005 as an independent agency with a broad mandate to cover a century of abuse, faces dissolution by the country’s conservative government. The TRC is likely to last another few months wrapping up investigations and then fade away, a relic of the decade of liberal leadership that began with the inauguration of President Kim Dae-jung in February 1998.

South African president Jacob Zuma must consult with victims before issuing any pardons for prisoners convicted of politically motivated crimes during the apartheid era. That’s according to a ruling by the country’s constitutional court.

When I first watched ‘A Clockwork Orange,’ Stanley Kubrick’s dystopian black comedy, at the cinema in Brazil, years after it was originally released, I was still a teenager. I remember finding it funny that black dots popped up on the screen to cover up sexual acts and parts of the body that we weren’t supposed to see. This was at the end of the 1970s and Brazil was under a military dictatorship that did things much worse than censoring film scenes. Every time I mention something from those years, like that experience at the movies, I notice that many people, and even younger Brazilians, seem to forget that the country was once ruled by a repressive regime.

War ended in Liberia almost seven years ago. It has left scars in the land and the people. The country is slowly recovering and questions regarding justice and impunity are being addressed – but not to everyone’s satisfaction.

The appearance of former Liberian president Charles Taylor before the United Nations backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) in The Hague is generating huge interest and excitement in his home country.

South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission in December concluded its historic exploration into the brutality of mass killing by both sides during the Korean War in an atmosphere of frustration and controversy.

In the aftermath of the May 2010 mass street protests in Bangkok which ended in a bloody crackdown by the Thai army, the government formed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. However, half a year after its formation, the commission is riddled with problems.

For those who have followed the tribulations of the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) for almost three years, its official report, which was published on 5 October, constitutes a small miracle. No one could have predicted such a logically structured, abundantly detailed, and well-written report two years ago when the Commission almost dissolved itself through sheer negligence. Even a year ago when the report was first due out, hopes for a turnaround were not high.

The TRC report devotes no less than 60 pages to the turbulent relationship between the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Working in parallel with the TRC, the court is mandated to try a handful of suspects thought to be chiefly responsible for crimes committed during the civil war.