Reconciliation Commission Research Articles

Treatment of Native Youth Requires Incorporating Culture, Recognizing Trauma

Treatment of Native Youth Requires Incorporating Culture, Recognizing Trauma

Understanding Indigenous Health Literacy Through Community-Led Engagement.

Context: This is the last in a four-part series that describes the outcome of a mixed-methods participatory social justice (MMPSJ) research project. A community engagement model was designed by participants as a synthesis of working with urban Indigenous peoples living on Treaty Six Territory and traditional homeland of the Metis in Saskatchewan, Canada. It responds to the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions calls to Action 10, 18-20. Community-based participatory health research (CBPHR) often sees the community as a place to undertake research in; this research saw the community as providing the leadership for the research. Objective: To show how MMPSJ work can help to shift from community-based to community-led research. Design: Mixed-methods participatory social justice and community-based participatory health research. Participants: Twelve Indigenous people representing four intergenerational families were invited to two Talking Circles to respond to questions derived from the Aboriginal Regional Health Surveys; as well as answer the following questions: What are the current connections between literacy and health within urban Indigenous families? What literacy issues continue to marginalize the community? How would you like this knowledge disseminated? This research was reviewed and approved by the University of Saskatchewan's Behavioural REB. Results/Findings: Knowledge of Treaty Six teachings was increased; participants described the social justice/transformative nature of this work an opportunity to be seen well and whole; and the Community Engagement Model evolved within the MMPSJ design. Conclusions: Community-based research can be transformed to being community-led through careful consideration of power and authentically engaging with the community at each step in the process.

Gender equality in the context of transitional justice in DRC: state of play of legal reforms

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has experienced violents conflits since the mid of 1990s. From 1996 to date, the country is grappling with more than 250 armed groups located in its eastern part. The same dynamics becomes is nascent in the western part. The war that occurred from 1998 to 2003 has been described as the deadliest conflict after the World Word II. To date, the activism of armed groups increased the number of victims whose majority is constituted by women and children in the provinces of North-Kivu, South-Kivu and Ituri. The transitional justice process entrenched in 2003 with the creation of the truth and reconciliation commission to deal with the war legacy has not yielded expected results. The TRC was abruptly removed form the 2006 constitution as an institution to support democracy. In this jeopardy, women and children are still importantly affected: displacement, rapes and other human rights violations alike. How does one address issues of women victims within a society dominated by the patriarchy?

A Brief History of Reconciliation in Canada

This article provides a roadmap of the process of reconciliation in Canada, beginning with the first articulation of the word in Canadian law, and carrying on through to the failure of the Meech Lake Accord, the Oka Crisis, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, and finally, Prime Minister’s promise to fulfill the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 “Calls to Action”. The author argues that in order for reconciliation to be realized, the governments of Canada will need to recognize and affirm local Indigenous education laws, as it pertains to their right to govern themselves in accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

A Mechanism to Resolve Conflict in Afghanistan

Forty years of civil war have made the Afghan nation not just tired of such internecine conflict but also demand an early end to human suffering in every form. The issue of armed conflict management was first mentioned in the inaugural issue of the Journal of Conflict Resolution in 1957 when Quincy Wright wrote that the resolution of international conflict can be facilitated by national government efforts “to prevent tensions from arising and aggravating disputes among nations. Such resolution can proceed through the application of appropriate methods of negotiation, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, and the coordination of measures to prevent aggression.” The lesson of reconciliation from the previous Apartheid regime in South Africa which had brought former adversaries to the negotiating table and work for a multi-cultural, democratic, and peaceful South Africa can be taken as a case in point for Afghanistan, along with the conflict resolution mechanisms used in divided societies like in Northern Ireland, the Balkans, Eastern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. In particular, the role of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa and the presence of local communities in various parts of the world as well as in Afghanistan shall be looked at. Although it remains an uphill task for the Afghan people to forget the sufferings that they were made to undergo. Peace and reconciliation have to be given a chance. The role of the United Nations and other regional actors become very crucial over here in bringing about a lasting conciliation to this warravaged part of Asia also depicted as the heart of Asia. Keywords: Afghanistan, conflict resolution, reconciliation, South Africa, Truth Commissions

A Mechanism to Resolve Conflict in Afghanistan

Forty years of civil war have made the Afghan nation not just tired of such internecine conflict but also demand an early end to human suffering in every form. The issue of armed conflict management was first mentioned in the inaugural issue of the Journal of Conflict Resolution in 1957 when Quincy Wright wrote that the resolution of international conflict can be facilitated by national government efforts “to prevent tensions from arising and aggravating disputes among nations. Such resolution can proceed through the application of appropriate methods of negotiation, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, and the coordination of measures to prevent aggression.” The lesson of reconciliation from the previous Apartheid regime in South Africa which had brought former adversaries to the negotiating table and work for a multi-cultural, democratic, and peaceful South Africa can be taken as a case in point for Afghanistan, along with the conflict resolution mechanisms used in divided societies like in Northern Ireland, the Balkans, Eastern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. In particular, the role of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa and the presence of local communities in various parts of the world as well as in Afghanistan shall be looked at. Although it remains an uphill task for the Afghan people to forget the sufferings that they were made to undergo. Peace and reconciliation have to be given a chance. The role of the United Nations and other regional actors become very crucial over here in bringing about a lasting conciliation to this war-ravaged part of Asia also depicted as the heart of Asia.

The Urgency Of Strengthening The Aceh Truth And Reconciliation Commission: An Effort To Sustain Peace By Reparations Of Conflict Victims

The conflict for Aceh's independence from the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia ended peacefully through political negotiations in 2005. However, the issue of the rights of conflict victims has not been resolved until now. At the same time, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was established to handle it. This article aimed to explain the main causes of TRC's weakness in getting the attention and support of related parties, including the community, to strengthen the institution. This article uses a qualitative method with document data to explain the weaknesses of the Aceh TRC. Its findings show that the Aceh TRC could not encourage the government to make reparations for victims of the conflict, the main reason being that the formal regulatory status that underpins the institution's existence is too low.

لجنة المصالحة الوطنية ودورها في تعزيز العدالة الانتقالية

The research deals with the transitional period in Iraq and the changes that lead to a democratic country governed by the right standards. People should obtain their rights and freedom which are provided in the 2005 effective constitution. The foundation of supporting bodies was one of the results of such changes. The Supreme Criminal Court, the Property Dispute Body, Political Prisoners Body, and the National Reconciliation Committee were examples of those establishments. The National Reconciliation Committee is one of non-judicial transitional justice whose job is achieving reconciliation among the different sects of Iraqi people in addition to the political blocs. The Committee had a role in achieving the aim according to the authority it had been granted. So, national reconciliation is one of non-judicial procedures that contributed in the transitional period in Iraq in addition to other procedures which aim at establishments' reform, achieving justice, and human rights reinforcement after a set of changes and disputes. All the aforementioned should lead to ensuring compensation of the previous regime victims, reinforcement of recovery, founding an independent body to monitor security.

APPRAISAL OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURTS: LESSONS FOR THE GAMBIA ON JAMMEH’S ALLEGED CRIMES

This research is determined to present an appraisal of International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (hereinafter referred to as ICTR) from an international law perspective in their quest to serve justice after the perpetration of the heinous atrocities of genocide in 1994 in Rwanda and other criminal tribunals and courts. It examines the failure of the international community to intervene, the raison d’être of ICTR as the main tribunal in this research and its fate. It focuses on the national mechanisms and the need for The Gambia to achieve justice for victims of the former President, Yahya Jammeh by reflecting on Rwanda. These findings are used to gauge The Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission’s (hereinafter referred to as the TRRC) recommendations and The Gambia’s white paper on Jammeh’s alleged crimes. It examines the violation of human rights, the prospects of this white paper and my perspective on possible mechanisms for social justice, integration and cohesion in The Gambia. This research, therefore, finds out that a hybrid court led by The Gambia and supported by judges in Africa is quite relevant to dealing with these alleged crimes because it is established with the aim of addressing this issue of Jammeh’s alleged human rights violations. This is so when The Gambia liaises with the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States to strengthen this hybrid court by providing this court with judges of outstanding legal acumen in hearing cases of such.

‘For Whom There Is Hope’: Imagining Freedom in Selected Post-apartheid South African Fiction

Following the election of Nelson Mandela as the first black president of South Africa and the formation of the first majority government of the African National Congress (ANC) in 1994, it was generally assumed that new bonds between South Africa’s white and black races would be forged and a new economic and social order would be established. Hence, the new government promised to lead the transition towards an all-inclusive society that would be a reflection of the linguistic, ethnic and cultural diversity of the country. This larger dream was enshrined, in part, in the formation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) that was expected to provide a sense of moral and ethical direction for the country. This article interrogates K. Sello Duiker’s The Quiet Violence of Dreams (2001), Phaswane Mpe’s Welcome to Our Hillbrow (2001), Zakes Mda’s The Madonna of Excelsior (2007) and J.M. Coetzee’s Disgrace (1999) to uncover the extent to which the different races and classes aspire towards a hopeful and inclusive ‘non-racial’ ethical future. Reading the Rainbow nation alongside its images of nation building and inclusive development, this article builds upon dominant national symbols that portray social, economic, cultural and political reforms in the country. The four texts are evaluated on the basis of the suggested intimated freedoms in those for ‘whom there is hope’ in the ‘new’ South Africa. Locating the place of ethics in contemporary South African literature, the article interrogates the images of the ‘new’ nation and the dominant tropes of sympathy, reconciliation, friendship, forgiveness, and nation building as espoused in the four post-apartheid novels. The article further evaluates the interactions between the different racial and ethnic groups forging forward a collective multicultural nationhood in the present moment.

Truth and reparations: A perpetual challenge for the marginalized in Peru

AbstractThe Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Comisión de la Verdad; CVR) is considered one of the most comprehensive in Latin America. Peru set forth a plan for reparations to address the gross inequalities underlying the war, yet nearly twenty years since the CVR report was submitted, extreme discrimination of victims undergirds the systemic challenges that impede the allocation of due resources and recognition of rights for war survivors. This article draws from a larger case study with a female war survivor from the Department of Ayacucho. By highlighting the challenges survivors face in accessing reparations, this research illustrates how a lack of judicial accountability, scarcity of resources applied to reparations, politicized narrative surrounding victimhood, and failure to adequately reconcile with the past, exacerbates marginalization that prompted the war and undermines the CVR's goal of transitional justice.

반인권적 국가범죄의 조사･수사에 있어 협조자에 대한 사면 등 허용여부에 관한 고찰

The concept of ‘Transitional Justice’ is used in relation to how to deal with crimes against humanity or state crimes against humanity rights committed in war or dictatorship after the end of the war or dictatorship. The key tasks of ‘Transitional Justice’ are the achievement of reconciliation･social integration and the pursuit of justice. To achieve these key tasks, the ‘Justice Model’ and the ‘Truth-Reconciliation Model’ can be chosen. The Justice Model focuses on the criminal responsibility of the perpetrator. In this model, the criminal court is the central body and judges serious human rights violations such as genocide, crimes against humanity and state crimes against human rights. The Truth-Reconciliation Model, on the other hand, seeks reconciliation by discovering the truth of serious human rights violations through official government investigations. In this model, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission(TRC) is the central body. At this time, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission pursues the cleansing of individuals, community- building, and consolidation of political change. In this paper, first, it was examined whether there is a need for amnesty, immunity, or mitigation according to the Truth-Reconciliation Model when the perpetrators of state crimes against human rights actively cooperated in the investigation process(Ⅱ). In addition, as a comparative law research method, cases in foreign countries in which amnesty, immunity, or mitigation were implemented or not implemented were reviewed(Ⅲ). And the contents and problems of the reconciliation provisions of Fact-Finding Act on Suspicious Deaths in the Military, the Past History Reorganization Act, and the 5･18 Fact-Finding Act, which were introduced in domestic law, were examined(Ⅳ). Based on these discussions, in the future, when introducing a reconciliation regulation that recognizes amnesty, immunity, or mitigation to cooperators in investigations of state crimes against human rights in Korea, what form and content should be included and specific introduction methods were suggested(Ⅴ).

Navigating Colonial Space: A Case Study of an Indigenous Student-Led Decolonial Movement in Canadian Higher Education

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada widely shared its Reports and Calls to Action regarding the “Indian Residential School System” in 2015. Since that time, higher education institutions across Canada have been engaged in diverse institutional reform efforts. This article is a case study of an Indigenous student-led reform initiative at The University of Winnipeg that resulted in the first mandatory Indigenous course requirement as a graduation requirement for all undergraduate students in Canada. The research is designed and conducted with Indigenous leadership and partnership and relies on the insights of Indigenous students that led the initiative to consider the impetus, nature, and strategies underlying this curricular reform. Three emergent themes were discerned that are important to systemic reform in post￾secondary education: the university as colonial space; navigation of white Settler dominance; and timing as significant to systemic change. The study can be seen as a unique example of the complexity, opportunities, and limitations of decolonial reform in higher education through an Indigenous student-led social movement embodying contentious co-governance and prefiguration.

Family as a cure.

The phrase “ubuntu,” which means “I am because we are,” was championed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, as he led South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the late 1990s. It contrasts starkly with Western philosopher René Descartes’ famous phrase, “I think, therefore I am

Silence, Voice, and Public Listening: Media Coverage of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

The Norwegian Parliament appointed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 2018 to investigate past injustices inflicted by the Norwegian state upon Norway’s Indigenous people, the Sámi, and two national minorities, the Kvens and the Norwegian Finns, as well as to create a foundation for reconciliation between these minorities and the majority population. This study investigates the media coverage of the TRC from 2016 to 2021. We found shrinking and uneven media coverage over time. Whereas news logics in minority and local media favoured TRC news and debates, coverage in nationwide mainstream news media was rare. While some explanations for these differences relate to marginalisation of Indigenous and national minority voices in media, others can be linked to the TRCs work methods and practices, which are designed to not attract journalistic attention until the final report is published in 2023.

File of Uncertainties: Exploring student experience of applying decolonizing knowledge in practice

It is critical that nursing education programs in Canada respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s call to develop a course about the documented impacts of Indigenous-specific racism on the health outcomes of Indigenous people. Initiatives such as San’yas Anti-racism Indigenous Cultural Safety Education, courses on trauma-informed care, and required Indigenous health and history classes in nursing programs are providing a solid beginning. However, the effectiveness of this education requires interrogation. This mixed methods study aimed to identify barriers and supports to incorporating decolonizing and antiracist knowledge into nursing practice with Indigenous patients/clients. Fourth-year nursing students at a Canadian university who had completed a core course on the impacts of colonization and Indigenous-specific racism on Indigenous health and wellness in Canada were surveyed to explore their experience of applying this knowledge during their clinical rotations. Sixteen participants responded to an anonymous online survey consisting of three short-answer open-ended questions and six Likert-style questions about their experiences. The emergent narrative themes and Likert-scale data indicate that although the students valued the information provided in the class, they continued to feel cultural tension and uncertainty when caring for Indigenous clients. Prominent areas of uncertainty included applying knowledge to practice, student confidence in disrupting racist treatment of Indigenous patients by their healthcare colleagues and knowing how to approach sensitive client situations to avoid re-traumatization. This article discusses the study’s implications and identifies areas for future research.

Co nfronting past atrocities: A critical analysis of the defunct Ethiopian Reconciliation Commission

This article examines the rationale for the establishment of the defunct Ethiopian Reconciliation Commission (the Commission) and the challenges it faced in its efforts to help end impunity, restore the ruptured social fabric, and ensure democratic transition. To this end, the article relies on analysis of relevant literature, comparative case studies, and interviews with experts. Ethiopia is a deeply divided society, one characterised by ethnic division, cycles of violence, a pervasive culture of impunity for heinous crimes, competing historical narratives, and polarised political discourse. The Commission was bestowed with ambitious mandates and functions. Among its formidable challenges were a legitimacy deficit; the prevalence of competing narratives; vaguely defined mandates; and the complexity of the reconciliation process. Ultimately, the Commission failed to deliver on any of its promises.

SETTLER IGNORANCE AND PUBLIC MEMORY: KINGSTON, ONTARIO

ABSTRACT Since the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, municipalities are increasingly addressing reconciliation in their practice, including new engagement with Indigenous heritage and public memory. Nevertheless, municipal perspectives of heritage are frequently colonial and result in commemorative landscapes that reinforce official national narratives of history and identity. These landscapes limit expressions of Indigenous heritage and reinforce settler ignorance. This article explores settler-colonial commemorative practice in the context of reconciliation in Canada and presents what was learned through conversations with Indigenous peoples in Kingston, a mid-sized city in Ontario, Canada. It emphasizes the need for productive settler discomfort in addressing settler ignorance and considers how reimagined places of public memory might unsettle hegemonic heritage narratives in Canadian cities. Noting the limitations of settler-Canadian commemoration in the context of reconciliation, it posits how decolonizing commemorative practices might offer new pathways for building relations.

Once, Twice, Three Times Delayed: Considering A Permanent Stay of Prosecution in Rodrigues v The National Director of Public Prosecutions

The National Prosecuting Authority is vested with the power, as dominus litus, to institute and discontinue charges whereas high courts are empowered to order a permanent stay of the prosecution prohibiting the continuation of the trial. However, such an order is considered to be a "drastic remedy" and is not empowered in terms of statutes such as the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 but rather vested in the right of an accused to have their trial begin and conclude without unreasonable delay. A permanent stay of the prosecution is an order made on a case-by-case basis, balancing various factors such as the prejudice faced by the accused, systemic factors as well as the reason for the delay. The ultimate question however remains whether the lapse of time in a particular case is unreasonable. The Supreme Court of Appeal in Rodrigues v The National Director of Public Prosecutions had to evaluate whether the 47-year-delay and eventual prosecution between the death of anti-apartheid activist, Ahmed Timol, was unreasonable. Both the majority and minority of the Supreme Court of Appeal, although for different reasons, concluded that the delay was not unreasonable. For most of the 47 years, prosecuting the accused was not possible due to the surrounding historical and political reasons (including the moratorium of cases arising from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission). The National Prosecuting Authority, as soon as it was possible, initiated the prosecution of the accused. Although applications for a permanent stay are mostly viewed as prejudicial to the accused, the majority and minority both acknowledge the families of the victims in this case. Such a perspective is welcomed as the role of the victim in the criminal justice process is often neglected.

Decolonizing and Indigenizing Engineering: The Design & Implementation of a New Course

This practice paper introduces a new course designed by one Indigenous and one non-Indigenous engineering educator at the University of Manitoba to decolonize and Indigenize engineering. Working with an Indigenous teaching assistant, and supported by a doctoral student auditing the course, we facilitated a small group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous engineering students to think critically about making place and space for Indigenous Peoples and worldviews in engineering. Here, we share the course design, our reflections on the course, and our plans going forward. Our initiative is one answer the Calls to Action by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada to learn the truth about Canada as colonizer and use education as a tool for reconciliation. In doing so, we aim to provide engineering students with knowledges and perspectives for working successfully with First Nations, Métis and Inuit Peoples and communities in engineering practice in Manitoba, and in Canada.