Using African Truth and Reconciliation Commission documentation for truth telling and reconciliation

Issue title: Selected Papers from the 2019 Archival Education and Research Institute (AERI 2019)

Guest editors: James Lowry and Tonia Sutherland

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Svärd, Proscovia^{a; b}

Affiliations: [a] Department of Information Systems and Technology, Mid Sweden University, Sweden | [b] Department of Information Science, University of South Africa (Unisa), Pretoria, South Africa | E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (TRCs) are established to document violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in post-conflict societies. The intent is to excavate the truth to avoid political speculations and create an understanding of the nature of the conflict. The documentation hence results in a common narrative which aims to facilitate reconciliation to avoid regression to conflict. TRCs therefore do a tremendous job and create compound documentation that includes written statements, interviews, live public testimonies of witnesses and they also publish final reports based on the accumulated materials. At the end of their mission, TRCs recommend the optimal use of their documentation since it is of paramount importance to the reconciliation process. Despite this ambition, the TRCs’ documentation is often politicized and out of reach for the victims and the post-conflict societies at large. The TRCs’ documentation is instead poorly diffused into the post conflict societies and their findings are not effectively disseminated and used.

Keywords: Truth and Reconciliation Commissions, documentation, human rights and post-conflict societies

DOI: 10.3233/EFI-200436

Journal: Education for Information, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 113-120, 2021