Truth and Reconciliation Commission
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is a court-like body assembled in South Africa after the end of Apartheid in the 1990s. In theory the commission granted amnesty to those charged with atrocities during Apartheid as long as the crimes were motivated by politics, and as long as the entire and utter truth were told by the charged person.No one was exempt from being charged. As well as ordinary citizens, the South African police could be charged and, most notably, members of the African National Congress, the ruling party at the time of the trial, could also be charged.
The commission brought forth many witnesses giving testimony about the secret and immoral acts committed by the Apartheid Government that many say would not have come out into the open otherwise. Due to the perceived success of this approach to dealing with human-rights violations after extensive political change in a country, other countries have instituted similar commissions &mdash though not always with the same scope or the allowance for charging of those currently in power.
On October 29, 1998 the Commission presented its report, which condemned both sides for committing atrocities.
A film, Long Night's Journey Into Day, was made about the commission.
