The Presence Of Reconciliation Between Victims And Perpetrators

Imagine for a moment what it would be like if the entire population of Sonoma County, California was killed, and twenty years later not many people knew a great deal about it. When over 500,000 people, primarily Tutsis, were killed in the Rwandan genocide in 1994, it was a great tragedy. However, no one rushed to the country’s aid. Now it is vital that the horrors of the instance that violated the human rights of so many, is not forgotten. Human rights are the universal actions and objects that all people are entitled to because they are human. Human rights have been violated in numerous ways over time, typically as a result of a person in power having their own best interests in mind rather than the peoples´. Various groups, such as Amnesty

“Forgiveness, assert Fincham and his colleagues, can help restore more benevolent and cooperative goals to relationships” Everett L. Worthington, Jr.(2004). New Science of Forgiveness.

Reconciliation has been a somewhat popular issue in Canadian academia and in Canadian society in general. Reconciliation in the Canadian context is defined as a restoration of the relationship between the Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous people due to the historical injustices, that continue to affect Indigenous peoples even to this day, committed by the Government of Canada against the Indigenous peoples. This is a massive undertaking that will require the participation of both Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous peoples alike. A project of this magnitude will not be an easy task to accomplish, as undoing over 100 years of trauma to the Indigenous peoples is not something that can be undone over night, but rather it will take decades to accomplish. There will be many obstacles in the path of reconciliation that will have to be overcome. However, reconciliation is the best opportunity to repair the relationships between the Indigenous peoples and the non-Indigenous peoples because it makes sense for all Canadians to be involved, the Government of Canada is backing the reconciliation process and some work to repair the relationship has already been done and has beneficial results for everyone.

In addition, Cristiani’s exploitation of his people through critical code switching laid a foundation of resentment between the citizens of El Salvador and their government. The citizens witnessed the political crime continuing past what they thought was a peace agreement and Cristiani simply deflected their concerns by attributing it as random, non-critical crime. Therefore, the divide between the government and its people was widening and impeding their goal of democratization. A specific example of the civilian’s resentment was when El Salvador’s legislature passed an amnesty law that granted freedom of persecution to all war criminals. This occurred in 1993 after a UN supervised, Truth Commission investigated human right abuses committed during El Salvador’s civil war (McPhaul 2013). By failing to bring the war criminals to justice and downplaying the atrocities they committed and were continuing to commit post-war, Cristiani and the government had injected a sense of resentment into the people that sought retribution. As governing leader, Cristiani had to deal with the

In 2014, a mother/ex wife released her victim offender mediation story with the “Community Justice Initiatives Association”. This particular case was about her son’s father who was brutally attacked after being in an argument with the offender that is named “M” in the story. The ex husband died the next day due to a brain hemorrhage. The mother explained that her ex husband suffered from alcohol abuse and so did the offender. The ex wife found out before “M” was an offender before he was actually a victim and a product of a family that was part of residential schooling through his First Nation tribe. About a year past and the ex wife wanted to set up a healing circle with “M” so that her son can have some closure with his father’s death because he was having a hard time dealing with it. The son and his mother got to meet with the offender in a mediation circle to hopefully heal with all parties involved. At first this circle was hard for the son but later on opened up about the whole situation that led him to let all the weight off of his shoulders and got release some resentment off of his fathers killer. On another hand the mother had an opportunity to fully digest what the offender was saying and came to a conclusion that “M” is an oppressed person that had history of addiction and anger issues, which led to her forgiving the offender after the mediation process.

Forgiveness is the key part to peace. Peace is only achievable when one does not have negative emotions towards another. Those who have forgiven are also given a chance for peace. When you give forgiveness, you receive peace. Peace and forgiveness are closely intertwined and affect one another. The relationship they share is inseparable and closely related.

Philosopher Paul Ricoeur posed the question, how “can one forgive someone who does not admit his guilt?”(Hatzfeld 195) Whether this admission of guilt is enough to be forgiven or not, the “sincere” taking of responsibility for one’s actions is an absolute minimum in striving for forgiveness. Ricoeur’s question becomes especially relevant when discussing the

The most important questions are often the most controversial. The question of whether or not to forgive a wrongdoer is particularly debatable, especially when considering large-scale crimes. Large-scale crimes, or crimes against humanity, involve senselessly killing mass amounts of innocent people. There have been many examples of large-scale crimes in the history of mankind, and such atrocities are still occurring today. Forgiveness is the act of pardoning an offender, and for most people, it is easy to forgive small blunders made by others on a daily basis. But forgiveness becomes a lot more troubling for the victim when they are asked to forgive something as terrible as a large-scale crime, which has irreversible effects for millions of

It is said that, “Delivering justice for mass atrocities is a daunting challenge in any country, and the scale of the Rwandan genocide would have overwhelmed even the best­ equipped judicial system” (Rwanda). Even though there were doubts, the government of Rwanda believed that they would be able to deliver justice through the domestic and community courts. It turned out that Rwanda was able to push through and serve their country justice in less than twenty years. The government took great efforts in order to deliver the justice that they felt was necessary for their people. The justice process did not go without sacrifice. Furthermore, “Some have paid a high price. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, in particular, thousands of people were arbitrarily arrested, and many were charged and tried in the absence of solid evidence against them. Some might have been wrongly convicted. The lack of safeguards against abusive prosecutions in a weak judicial system heightened the risk of unfair trials” (Rwanda). This illustrates the flaws that pushing for justice can create. Although it is important for victims to be awarded with a sense of righteousness, rushing the process can cause even more

Reconciliation is stated as “restoration of a state of peace to the relationship, where the entities are at least not harming each other, and can begin to be trusted not to do so in future, which means that revenge is foregone as an option” (Santa-Barbara, 174). This definition is a starting point in understanding reconciliation but does not address the spirit of forgiveness involved. It is important to recognize harms that others have done but it becomes necessary to portray these in a positive and understanding manner. This supplies the persecutor with an image that is not so negative and “monster-like” but also provides for the victim acknowledgement that there has been harm done. For reconciliation to take place, all parties involved

Forgiveness has been defined in many ways by psychologists and researchers with no one universal definition. Hill (as cited in Maltby, Day and Mackaskill 2001) state that it is widely agreed that forgiveness involves a willingness to abandon resentment, negative judgement and indifferent behaviour towards the person who has hurt them Although research is recent, from the last 15 years, it has helped develop our understanding of forgiveness . Research has shown that forgiveness gives positive mental health and prevents the development of mental disorders such as anxiety, depression and stress. Two major models of forgiveness are Enright’s model and Worthington’s (2001) pyramid model to REACH forgiveness. Both these models involve steps and

In the amnesty process in the TRC, as previously stated to reach reconciliation, the perpetrators were to confront the committee and the victims and discuss, in detail, their crimes. In a strange way, these testimonies, “humanized,” the perpetrators, “For those who watched the amnesty proceedings and for those who participated, the testimony humanized and particularized the perpetrator. As perpetrators gave testimony, they divulged their crimes, but they also revealed themselves as flawed and

During the course one’s life, one will encounter situations in which one strongly feels a particular way despite a lack of evidence. Often, the strength of such convictions will lead one to act rashly, projecting one’s views onto others due to one’s emotional state. This rashness can lead to one making decisions that will harm both oneself and those around one. The rifts that are created as a result of such difficulties can lead to tension and differences between individuals for years to come. More often than not, one must find a way to be forgiven for what one has done, as only then can one obtain peace with others and oneself. In Ian McEwan’s Atonement, Briony Tallis’s struggle on her path to understanding and correcting an injustice demonstrates the manner in which one can be forgiven, showing that in order to achieve forgiveness one must take the path to righting one’s wrongdoings and admitting the truth of one’s situation.

Michael R. Marrus argues that there are four contexts that need to be addressed when trying to develop a strategy for reconciliation. These are political, legal, material, and cultural. These different areas of concern

In this thesis the writer “J.Matisonn” writes about how the TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) not only addressed issues of crimes against humanity that also affected the Human rights of people but the other thing the TRC did well if anything according to this article it that it also addressed those people , organizations and even institutions who used media and propaganda in order to not only further the cause of the Apartheid government but to hurt so many families and relatives in the process.