We blogged here about Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, unusual in that testimony will be taken from Liberian refugees here in the United States for a commission that sits in Africa. South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission was an early incarnation of this transitional justice mechanism, and is often viewed as the model to emulate, though its failure to punish is not without its detractors amongst the families of victims of the apartheid regime. And Sierra Leone's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, complementary to the Special Court for Sierra Leone, has been criticized in some quarters for relying on confession and truth-telling where they're not culturally appropriate. Now, two other African countries are getting in on the action.
Last month, Kenya's parliament approved a Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission to investigate human rights abuses since 1963. While the time frame appears surprisingly long, that's the point -- to 
investigate "unresolved historical injustices such as distribution of land and state resources, and alleged human rights violations by previous governments and political leaders" that may have been the root cause of the deadly violence resulting from December 2007's disputed elections. The TJRC is hybrid in format, with six Kenyan commissioners and three foreign commissioners drawn from the Panel of African Eminent Personalities, a group of thirteen prominent Africans who helped to negotiate the peace deal in Kenya. It will be complementary to prosecutions of perpetrators of human rights abuses during the post-election violence, either by an international tribunal to be formed in Kenya in the next two months or by the International Criminal Court. Those found guilty of genocide and other human rights violations will not be eligible for amnesty. While the impetus for this denial of amnesty is understandable, particularly in the wake of South Africa's TRC, it may be difficult to prod human rights violators to testify before Kenya's TJRC without the carrot of amnesty. Moreover, critics are already suspicious that politicians seeking to avoid punishment will find an amnesty loophole via the TJRC.
investigate "unresolved historical injustices such as distribution of land and state resources, and alleged human rights violations by previous governments and political leaders" that may have been the root cause of the deadly violence resulting from December 2007's disputed elections. The TJRC is hybrid in format, with six Kenyan commissioners and three foreign commissioners drawn from the Panel of African Eminent Personalities, a group of thirteen prominent Africans who helped to negotiate the peace deal in Kenya. It will be complementary to prosecutions of perpetrators of human rights abuses during the post-election violence, either by an international tribunal to be formed in Kenya in the next two months or by the International Criminal Court. Those found guilty of genocide and other human rights violations will not be eligible for amnesty. While the impetus for this denial of amnesty is understandable, particularly in the wake of South Africa's TRC, it may be difficult to prod human rights violators to testify before Kenya's TJRC without the carrot of amnesty. Moreover, critics are already suspicious that politicians seeking to avoid punishment will find an amnesty loophole via the TJRC.This week, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai echoed a call made in Sept
ember by church leaders for a truth and reconciliation commission in Zimbabwe. Tsvangirai believes that a Zimbabwean TRC should examine atrocities in the country dating back to the massacres of ethnic minorities in the 1980s. Church leaders, on the other hand, said that decisions regarding the temporal scope of the TRC should be made by ordinary people, not political parties -- a good rule of thumb for all transitional justice mechanisms. The church leaders found it necessary to air the truth and implement some form of justice in order to heal the nation, and view the South African TRC as their model.
After an initial blossoming of TRCs in Latin America to address the political violence of the 1980s, it's interesting to see this transitional justice mechanism spread throughout Afric
a. While the South African TRC seemed generally well-tailored to that nation given its religious and legal history and composition, it's not entirely clear that this form of truth-telling will fit all cultural environments. It's surely positive to see the requests for TRCs coming from within these societies, but I query whether there's a more locally grounded moral authority that might be used to account for the violence in Kenya, Zimbabwe, and beyond.
ember by church leaders for a truth and reconciliation commission in Zimbabwe. Tsvangirai believes that a Zimbabwean TRC should examine atrocities in the country dating back to the massacres of ethnic minorities in the 1980s. Church leaders, on the other hand, said that decisions regarding the temporal scope of the TRC should be made by ordinary people, not political parties -- a good rule of thumb for all transitional justice mechanisms. The church leaders found it necessary to air the truth and implement some form of justice in order to heal the nation, and view the South African TRC as their model.After an initial blossoming of TRCs in Latin America to address the political violence of the 1980s, it's interesting to see this transitional justice mechanism spread throughout Afric
a. While the South African TRC seemed generally well-tailored to that nation given its religious and legal history and composition, it's not entirely clear that this form of truth-telling will fit all cultural environments. It's surely positive to see the requests for TRCs coming from within these societies, but I query whether there's a more locally grounded moral authority that might be used to account for the violence in Kenya, Zimbabwe, and beyond.
