Amnesty after Atrocity? Healing Nations after Genocide and War Crimes, Helena Cobban
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12915469 |
|---|---|
| Authors | A Rigby, A J Rigby (0000-0002-3351-2200, Coventry University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2007 |
| Volume | 1 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 455-456 |
| Publication date | 2007-10-14 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Transitional Justice (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1752-7716 • E-ISSN: 1752-7724 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/ijtj/ijm027 |
| OpenAlex | W2015920347 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
Helena Cobban is a journalist and member of the Society of Friends (Quakers), and both these aspects of her persona inform her latest book, resulting in ideas and insights that guide her exploration of the different ways three African countries have dealt with the legacy of gross abuse and past violence. This is a stimulating work which engages one throughout. The Quaker spirit within her, the deep commitment to nonviolence and the belief that no one is beyond redemption, imbues the text with a deep compassion which I found challenging. The genesis of the book lay in her witnessing of the manner in which South Africa avoided a bloodbath in its transition to democracy, and then being shocked to learn that in 2000, six years after the genocide in Rwanda, 135,000 suspected genocidaires were still incarcerated. By contrast, in Mozambique after the end of the 17 years of civil war in 1992 there was a blanket amnesty for all actions committed prior to the peace settlement. She began to question which of these three different approaches has worked best in terms of enabling the societies concerned to leave the past behind and move on towards meeting the vital goals of human well-being, social reconstruction and national reconciliation. In South Africa there was the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the promise of amnesty for perpetrators in return for truth, in Rwanda there has been the drive to prosecute those responsible for the genocide, whilst in Mozambique the ‘forgive and forget’ approach was linked with a significant package of benefits to assist in the demobilisation and reintegration of former combatants
Amnesty · Commission · Compassion · Crimes against humanity · Criminology · Democracy · Genocide · Human rights · Impunity · International law · Political science · Politics · Refugee · Settlement (finance · Sociology · Transitional justice · War crime · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · Law
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,33 |
| Citation span | 2008 - 2019 (12) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |