Facts of the Matter -- reconciliation

Since the end of the Cold War, reconciliation has emerged as a new form of conflict resolution to overcome racial and ethnic strife. According to the New Oxford American Dictionary , the word “reconciliation” can be traced back to the Latin word conciliare , meaning “bring together,” and is synonymous with “reunite” and “reunion.” See European Platform for Conflict Prevention and Transformation

Reconciliation entered the international spotlight in 1995 after the establishment of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which sought to heal the deep wounds brought on by decades of apartheid. Since then, as many as 20 commissions have been created in countries around the world.

Scholars say there is a conflict resolution spectrum that begins with force and proceeds to adjudication, arbitration, negotiation, and mediation until reaching reconciliation. Unlike most other forms of conflict resolution, reconciliation requires mutual participation. Ideally, it is a “bottom-up” process in which individuals participate without being coerced.

In Rwanda, the government established outdoor community courts called gacaca after the genocide . In 2008, more than 12,000 gacaca courts convened across the country, and more than one million cases were tried. Public participation was substantial, and violence was limited. Since 1994, Rwanda’s per capita gross domestic product has nearly tripled. See "The Life After" from the New Yorker

One of the most important aspects of reconciliation is getting to the truth of what happened. In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge killed as many as two million people between 1975 and 1979. In February 2009, the government brought the man who ran the infamous Khmer Rouge torture center to trial as part of the country’s reconciliation efforts. An estimated 16,000 people entered the torture center. Fewer than a dozen survived.

By 2004, 77 percent of South Africans felt that the statement “I believe that all people are my brothers and sisters and equals, regardless of their race, religion, and political beliefs” applied to them, and 90 percent said there was no use “blaming the problems in South Africa on the past.”

The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) was established in 2001 to help nations foster and study the process of reconciliation. The ICTJ helped set up the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission in North Carolina, USA, in 2002, which sought to ease racial tensions after demonstrators were murdered during a 1979 protest against discrimination. It was the first of its kind in the United States.

In 2008, the Australian government formally apologized to members of the “Stolen Generations” – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who had been forcibly removed from their homes. The apology came after years of work by groups such as the District 9710 Reconciliation Committee, a Rotarian group that had been mentoring indigenous youth and opening up dialogue.