Citizens of the first republic to be established on the continent, in 1847, this week visited the most recently established democratic African republic to seek inspiration, guidance and insight for their fledgling Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).
Members of Liberia’s TRC were on a week-long study tour of the country to learn how South Africa’s transition and healing process was managed. The nine-member commission was hosted by the South African Foundation for Human Rights and met human rights activists, members of the South African TRC and representatives of government to exchange notes on the most practical way to manage the healing process.
Commission chairperson Jerome Verdier said it wants to follow a victim-centred process instead of focusing on perpetrators.
He said the Liberian TRC’s aim is to ensure that the process is also responsive to the needs of women and children, who bore the brunt of Charles Taylor’s murderous reign of terror.
”Ours should be a Liberian-driven process where Liberian interests are more important than inter-national interests,” said Verdier, a human rights and environmental lawyer.
Liberia, he explained, does not want to pursue an ”overly legalistic process”, which heaps more attention on the perpetrators than on the victims, many of them children and women. Its process will be guided by the ”collective wisdom and experiences” of the Liberians.
While Verdier noted that reparations may not be the best route to follow, he said that ”some form of reparation will be necessary” to ensure a healing process that does not rupture later on.
There is a sense of urgency to get the process under way ”now, when we have not settled, rather than wait for four or five years”, said Verdier.
He feels the presence of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Liberia will give the TRC added security and allay fears of an uprising engineered by perpetrators and their supporters.
He thought the South African process offered ”differences and similarities which provide opportunities for learning”.