Lexington Books
Pages: 120
Trim: 6½ x 9¼
978-1-4985-0407-2 • Hardback • April 2015 • $107.00 • (£82.00)
978-1-4985-0409-6 • Paperback • April 2019 • $46.99 • (£36.00)
978-1-4985-0408-9 • eBook • April 2015 • $44.50 • (£35.00)
John Perry, SJ, is a Canadian academic who has been a volunteer working at the Kofi Annan Institute for Conflict Transformation at the University of Liberia since 2008.
T. Debey Sayndee is associate professor and director at the Kofi Annan Institute for Conflict Transformation (KAICT) at the University of Liberia.
Introduction
Chapter One: Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Chapter Two: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa
Chapter Three: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Sierra Leone
Chapter Four: The National Human Rights Commission of Ghana
Chapter Five: The National Human Rights Commission and the Human Rights Violations Commission of Nigeria
Chapter Six: Chad: Africa’s Second Truth Commission
Chapter Seven: The Equity and Reconciliation Commission of Morocco Conclusion
Conclusion
John Perry and T. Debey Sayndee have written a comprehensive analysis of the evolution and dynamics of transitional justice, in particular, the use of truth commissions as instruments of fact-finding and reconciliation of bitterly divided communities in the aftermath of political conflicts and monstrous dictatorships in different parts of the world. The book presents well-researched and highly informative case studies using the truth commissions that have been established in selected African countries—Liberia, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, Chad, and Morocco. This book is a must read for all students and practitioners of transitional justice, post-conflict reconstruction, and peacebuilding in Africa and other regions of the world.
— Kenneth Omeje, University of Johannesburg
TRC’s are a world wide phenomenon stretching from South Africa, Sierra Leone, and El Salvador to Timor-Leste. Dr. Imani Michelle Scott and her colleagues have even recently proposed a TRC for the United States (Crimes Against Humanity, Praeger). John Perry and Debey Sayndee do a wonderful job of outlining the importance of the TRCs for post peace accord peacebuilding as well as their strengths and limitations. African Truth Commissions and Transitional Justice is an important read for transitional justice scholars and students as well as international policymakers, IGOs, and NGOs tasked with rebuilding the fabric of broken societies so that ethnopolitical groups often historically locked in a fatal embrace can heal, reconcile, move on, and coexist.
— Sean Byrne, University of Manitoba