Truth and Reconciliation Commissions.
Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (TRC's) were enacted in order to determine how to appropriately deal with situations in which abuses of human rights violations have ceased, but societies are confused about how exactly to come to terms with events that took place. The main objective of these commissions is to investigate and determine how and why specific events transpired, especially in cases where people seemed to have just "vanished". TRC's also face the challenge of determining responsibility and assigning appropriate punishment. The forces that led people to commit such crimes must be considered. In the most serious cases, the crimes are attributable to absolutely indefensible behavior by people who knew exactly what they were doing. In other cases, crimes may have been committed by low ranking officials who were "just following orders." Still, other crimes resulted from the effects of a heightened hysteria which can cause people to do things that they would otherwise never consider. This results in a no- win situation in which both sides are committing retaliatory crimes against one another.
Reconciliation for past war crimes often results in a difficult situation. Victims of these terrible crimes find it absolutely impossible to simply forget these horrible acts and continue to live in a society where the perpetrators walk about as if nothing happened. For them, some measure, albeit any measure, of justice can likely be an important step in the healing process. However, if the victims of such crimes intend on holding everyone responsible for all crimes committed, then the result is likely to be a resurgence of emotionally charged fighting, rather than reconciliation and healing. Here strategies that combine a search for truth and justice, linked with amnesty and forgiveness are likely to be essential. .
Some argue against TRC's for throwing salt in old wounds, or digging up a painful past, for really no reason at all.