Preview

Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Bringing Justice to South Africa

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
819 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Bringing Justice to South Africa
Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Bringing Justice to South Africa

Although many South Africans were victims of human rights violations during the apartheid, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission gave those victims some measure of closure and justice, helping the nation to create a more just and peaceful environment. These Truth and Reconciliation Commissions was a court-like justice system that helped victims of the South African apartheid. These commissions were accomplished by the work of three different committees that helped each victim present their case. The public from around the world looked at the acts of justice carried out in South Africa as very successful. Clearly, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission completely changed the South African government, people, and wellbeing drastically.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was the result of the South African apartheid in which the South African people were “classified by their race” and segregated from “1984-1994” (Apartheid). These victims, who were mostly the native blacks, were treated as second-class citizens by the whites and had horrible living conditions. The TRC was a court-like body that allowed victims of human rights violations to come forward and bring their perpetrators, who were present at the trials, to justice. The perpetrators were then able to request amnesty and testify. Archbishop Desmond Tutu set up the TRC in “1995” in Cape Town, South Africa. Archbishop Desmond Tutu was “appointed by the President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela”, to be the leader of the TRC (Desmond). The TRC was based off of “terms of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, No 34 of 1995” (Truth).
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was accomplished by three committees: The Human Rights Violations (HRV), Reparation & Rehabilitation (R&R), and the Amnesty Committee (AC). Each one of these committees played a special role in successfully accomplishing the TRC. The HRV

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    QSC 27: Access To Justice

    • 1653 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Task 4, Activity 1 Access to justice questions Question 1 Milu v Smith [2004] QSC 27 is authority for the proposition that a lawyer’s duty of care and duty to the court are in no way reduced by virtue of a lawyer acting pro bono. In that case the way the lawyer conducted himself when representing next of kin at an inquest and in subsequent proceedings for judicial review resulted in orders being made against him. a. Describe at least one of the shortcomings in the lawyer’s representation.…

    • 1653 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    DBQ: Reign of Terror

    • 656 Words
    • 2 Pages

    They were also unjustified because they were out of control and gave no trial to those who were sent to death. “The tribunal followed a formalized legal procedure, but gradually broke down “(63). They soon after gave in and stopped following their word, stopping all the trials. “The tribunal were out of control and kill thousands of innocents and accused men and women”(63). These…

    • 656 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Describe and explain how Christian beliefs have influenced Desmond Tutu's fight against apartheid in South Africa.…

    • 306 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    attorney-client privelge

    • 764 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Truth-seeking- According to the International Center of Transitional Justice truth seeking is Truth commissions are not judicial inquiries. Th ey do not establish individual criminal responsibility for specifi c crimes, determine punishment, or use the standards of due process applicable in a court of law. If they gather evidence useful for a criminal investigation, their inquiries may precede or com- plement the work of a court of law.…

    • 764 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Picture this: a society split into two separate groups, two different colors, two opposing rights, the blacks and the whites. The 1900s was an important century in American history; from the funding to the NCCAP and the countless race riots to the invention of the modern television, this time, hit many landmarks that bettered some in the society and was the downfall for others. Although the invention of modern television and printed media played a huge part in the struggle for racial equality in America, but what happened to Emmett Till and Rosa Parks started the Civil Rights movement.…

    • 1267 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    _ Restorative justice offers the possibility of reclaiming, repairing, and transforming individual wrongdoers and reintegrating them into productive activity;…

    • 4737 Words
    • 19 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In conclusion, restorative justice is a process in where all stakeholders get involved to address the harms and concerns of an offense, making an amends to repair the damaged caused. Restorative justice has truly helped the evolution of victims’ rights by letting them participate as much as they like and giving them a voice to where they can feel safe when confronting the offender for the first time. This approach upholds many values and principles aiming to achieve successfully encounter all restorative justice programs being victim-offender mediation, circling, and conferences. The significant aspects of authentic communication help to grasp the impact of a genuine apology, effort to make an amends and provide restitution as pay back. Rebuilding…

    • 278 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In South Africa Bishop Desmond Tutu became part of a group fighting agaisnt the policy of Aparthied. This was a system of laws that were forcused on segregation of the races. Tutu used nonviolent methods to end Aparthied. He is mostly responsible for pressuring the United Nations to place sanctions on South Africa. This affected South Africa because without that money coming in their economy continued to slow down, helping cause the end Aparthied. His efforts along with other peoples efforts were successful in ending Aparthied. With the help of the White president De Klerk and Nelson Mandela, they helped form agreements that slowly desegregated public facilities and abolish…

    • 405 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    factor in ending Apartheid. it was founded in response to the injustice against black south africans at the hand of the government then in power. By 1919 the anc was leading a campaign against passes that black people were forced to carry, but then the anc became dormant in the mid-1920s . at this time black people were also represented by the ICU and the…

    • 1760 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Desmond Tutu became one of South Africa’s most out spoken annotator of apartheid. His religious belief was based upon the biblical teachings of Christ. Tutu believed in the biblical teaching of Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew, nor Greek, slave nor free, male more female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gish 128).…

    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Franciscan Values

    • 486 Words
    • 3 Pages

    I believe that all of the Franciscan values should be important. All though, I feel that…

    • 486 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Nelson Mandela Paper

    • 1054 Words
    • 5 Pages

    When most people think of a prominent figure in South Africa one name always comes to mind; Nelson Mandela. Imagine a time in South Africa when, similar to old America, whites held most of the power. Due to the previous conflicts of the European countries in South Africa, there were many Europeans who heavily discriminated against the original African people. This is exactly the type of place Mandela was born into. Born in 1918, his family was part of a common South African clan, where he always enjoyed hearing the elder’s stories. These stories consisted of the black Africans’ struggle against whites during the time of the Boer war (Nelson Mandela Center of Memory). It is because of this individual that the world looks at South Africa the in way it is done today. Nelson Mandela has left his mark on the country, for without him there may not be equality, democracy, and learning opportunities for the black people of South Africa.…

    • 1054 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Restorative Justice

    • 1123 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The policy goal in terms of responding to child sexual assault and abuse is to decriminalise the occurrence of child sexual assault and abuse and this aims to achieve more equality, understanding, fairness, justice and reconciliation within the society. This can be achieved through the application and utilisation of Restorative Justice (RJ). In terms of the stakeholders, the survivors, their families, the community and the government organisations would benefit from the reparative and restorative aspect of RJ as they would believe that the offender truly understands their wrongdoing and knows and attempts to make amends. In terms of the offender, they would greatly benefit by utilising the RJ process, as they would be given…

    • 1123 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Nuremberg trials were trials that were supposed to bring Nazi’s to justice. The Nuremberg trials occurred during the years of 1945 and 1946. During this time World War II had just ended with the Allies’ victory and many cities in Europe were rebuilding themselves thanks to the war. The Nazi war criminals were under the jurisdiction of the Allied Powers (England, United States, Soviet Union, and France). The trial was consisted of “twenty-two major Nazi criminals”, however only twelve were sentenced to death. During the hearing most Nazi’s “admitted to the crimes of which they were accused” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). But one of the biggest questions that remains after the trials was whether or not it was true justice that…

    • 280 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The South African extremist and previous president Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) conveyed a conclusion to politically-sanctioned racial segregation and has been a worldwide promoter for human rights. An individual from the African National Congress party starting in the 1940s, he was a pioneer of both serene dissents and furnished resistance against the white minority's severe administration in a racially isolated South Africa. His activities landed him in jail for about three decades and made him the substance of the antiapartheid development both inside his nation and universally. Discharged in 1990, he took an interest in the destruction of politically-sanctioned racial segregation and in 1994 turned into the principal dark president of South…

    • 158 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays