Truth for amnesty One other avenue for transitional justice process is truth for amnesty in which the offender would trade truth with general pardon from the government. Participants felt disparaged by situations where the state can give amnesty in exchange for a truthful account from a perpetrator. Victims argued that while the state can give amnesty, total forgiveness, healing and reconciliation can only come from the injured person or survivor of that violence, therefore people were not comfortable with general pardon for criminals. Participants pointed out that while the state can forgive, it is the duty of the perpetrator of violence to make good with the survivor. To be effective, truth for amnesty needs to be a two level process of receiving official pardon for saying the truth about one's acts of violence on one hand, and making efforts of seeking the victim of violence to say sorry. Participants acknowledged that the process of seeking to apologize for the wrong one committed can lead to a sustained dialogue between the victim and perpetrator and his/her victim. However, the participants were unanimously against the process of Truth for Amnesty as an avenue for achieving transitional justice. Participants felt that peace-building efforts needed to be centered on the will of the people. The will of the people was to openly discuss and confess the evils of the past and therefore leaving the past alone was not viewed favourably. There was noone prepared to draw a line between the past and the present and move on just like that. The truth, justice and reconciliation approach was important to the participants because it was noted that victims' needs are individual and communal, structural and psychological. Participants noted that truth; justice and reconciliation processes would provide a forum for forgiveness and formal recognition of victims, thereby helping them to reclaim their dignity. It was felt that such processes gave perpetrators formal mechanisms to renounce their violent deeds and rejoin the society in some fashion. Therefore the truth, justice and reconciliation instrument of transitional justice was viewed as cathartic and able to promote reconciliation, lift the lid off on human rights abuses, end denial that might persist in certain sectors of the community and create a visible distance from an abusive era. 24