SECOND COMPONENT TO RECONCILIATION: Acknowledgement of the Wrongdoings Against the Victims
Once a more complete unbiased truth of the past atrocities has been revealed society must
acknowledge its value as the truth. Acknowledging is distinct from just knowing because it
10requires an added element of action. Acknowledging the truth implies actively recognizing the
truth to oneself, being able to volunteer this truth aloud to the public and to the victim, and
feeling affected by this truth. Acknowledging information once conscious of it is the opposite of
choosing to ignore it. Trudy Govier describes acknowledgement as “a necessary condition of
willingness to make restitution and commit to positive change.” 27
Following devastating internal conflict that either divided the country or rose out of existing
divisions, it is important that the government and guilty parties extend gestures of
acknowledgment to the victims. The gestures might include official apologies, reparations
including compensation and social services, and enactment of systemic reforms that address
injustice at the root of conflict. “Ignoring history leads to collective amnesia, which is not only
unhealthy for the body politic but essentially an illusion: an unresolved past will inevitably return
to haunt citizens,”28 warns Jeremy Sarkin. Victims are silenced, socially marginalized, and
brought down to a sub-human level by horrible offenses to their pride. However,
acknowledgement of the victims and the brutal crimes committed against them means
recognizing the dignity of the victims once again. Genuine attention in this way helps restore
this essential human dignity and facilitates their personal healing. It provides initial
empowerment for the victims. Victims need some base level of confidence in order to seek out
reconciliation with their perpetrators. On the perpetrator side, official acknowledgment of the
victims and the crimes they perpetrated discourages denial. It pushes guilty parties to see the
cruel reality of their acts and to face their long-avoided moral conscience. Many combatants or
officials never want their children to get involved in the same gruesome violence. Recognizing
that his/her acts were wrong may lead them to guard against them in the future. Once this hope
in and commitment to change is engendered in all sectors of the population that participated in or
1 1were affected by the former conflict, reconciliation for the sake of future generations may indeed
be possible.
Tags: guilty, perpetrators, violence