T r a n si t i o na l j us t ice o p t i o n s fo r Zi m ba bw e: a g u i d e to k e y co n cep t s • • • • Attend fully to victim’s needs – material, financial, emotional and social, including those close to the victim who may be personally affected; Prevent new offences by reintegrating offenders into a community; Enable offenders to take active responsibility for their actions; and Create a working community that supports the rehabilitation of offenders and victims, and remains active in preventing crime. Retributive justice This refers to the systematic imposition of punishment on perpetrators of violations on the basis that the perpetrator has done something to upset the harmonious existence of society. Retribution argues that, if laws were made to be obeyed, then whoever breaks those laws should be punished. Using the notion of retribution, crime is viewed as an individual act and thus individuals are seen as being responsible. Punishment of the individual is seen as an effective response because it aims to change a specific person’s behaviour and deter them from committing another crime. The focus of this form of justice is therefore on establishing which individuals are guilty and who is to blame. This approach is sometimes criticised because it can originate from and sustain negative motives such as revenge. Special tribunals These usually refer to legal processes set up to investigate and report on gross violations of human rights, with a view to prosecuting persons alleged to have committed abuses during a specific period in a country’s history. The purpose of these tribunals is to obtain justice for the victims and deter others from committing the same or similar crimes in the future. Truth and Reconciliation Commissions These are temporary, officially sanctioned, non-judicial investigative bodies, the primary purpose of which is to investigate and report on key periods of past abuse. Truth and reconciliation commissions (TRCs) provide important mechanisms for addressing the right to truth for victims, their families and society as a whole.36 TRCs serve a variety of interrelated goals, including: • • • • • • Establishing an accurate historical record of past violations; Determining individual and/or organisational responsibility; Providing an official forum where victims’ stories can be heard and acknowledged; Challenging impunity through objective research which can be made available for use by policymakers and others; Facilitating national reconciliation and the open acknowledgement of wrongdoing; and Recommending reparations, institutional reforms and other policies. International experience has shown that the success of a truth commission is dependent on the existence of sufficient time, human resources and capital. A truth commission should not be seen as an alternative to prosecutions, but rather as complementary to these. Although supported by government, the commission must not be seen to be a political body; it must have operational independence as well as a strong but flexible mandate. The inclusion of a broad range of actors in all aspects of its processes, as well the ability to reach political consensus and implement all of its recommendations, are generally acknowledged to be attributes of successful commissions. 36 The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established to deal with what happened under the apartheid regime, where gross human-rights abuses were committed and the truth needed to be made known. On the first day of the Commission’s meetings, then-President Nelson Mandela said, ‘To forgive and forget we should know what actually happened.’ To forge a future, perpetrators and victims had to honestly and squarely confront their past. 11