Answer to Question #263732 in History for Kelsey Jand

Question

Context Link: https://www.facinghistory.org/holocaust-and-human-behavior/chapter-11/transitional-justice-south-africa

Question:  How might you figure out when it would be best to have a trial and when a truth commission would be best? 

Answer 1

The TRC was not intended to be the only tool of transitional justice: reparations and prosecutions, for example, were expected to be used much more widely than they actually were. Also, the daily humiliations and more “ordinary” violence of apartheid were not addressed by the TRC. Nor was the participation in the system by average white South Africans and the ways that they benefited simply by being white—and the ways that whites continue to benefit today, even though apartheid is over. A new generation of South Africans is actively questioning how adequately the legacies of apartheid have been dealt with, when reforms of the economy, the judiciary, and the education system remain incomplete.

While truth commissions can’t reconcile societies all by themselves, they are increasingly seen as a crucial tool for transition. Despite its limitations, South Africa’s TRC helped to popularize and make legitimate the use of truth commissions at the national level, and in recent years countries as diverse as Nepal and Canada have used this tool. Cities, states, towns, and even schools have also adapted elements of truth commissions in their efforts to establish a common history, rebuild trust, and secure peace.