A Truth Commission for Africa?
| Author | Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070200506000407 |
| Published date | 01 December 2005 |
| Date | 01 December 2005 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann
A truth commission
for Africa?
| International Journal | Autumn 2005 | 999 |
INTRODUCTION
This article considers the feasibility of establishing a truth commission
for Africa (TCA). A TCA’s purpose would be to contribute to reconcilia-
tion between Africa and the west by agreeing on a narrative “truth” about
historic relations between these regions. This truth would constitute one
aspect of western reparations to Africa, as suggested at the World
Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and
Related Intolerance in Durban, South Africa, in September 2001.
Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann is Canada Research Chair in international human rights
at Wilfrid Laurier University, as well as professor emerita (sociology) at McMaster
University. She writes, “I published my first article on human rights in the International
Journal in 1980. Bob Matthews had read it, and encouraged me to submit it. I was then
a young scholar writing in a field that did not yet exist, and Bob’s encouragement meant
a lot to me. Twenty-five years later, it is a great honour to be included in the present issue.
Bob Matthews’ combination of moral commitment and intellectual integrity stands as an
example to all who labour in the field of human rights. He reminds his colleagues that it
is the duty of those who enjoy the tenured academic life in Canada to consider how they
can use their privilege for the good of humankind.
“I am most grateful to Anthony Lombardo and Kristina Bergeron for their assistance in
conducting research interviews, and James Gaede, Anthony Lombardo, and Dan
Milisavjlevic for general research assistance. I am also grateful to the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council of Canada for the funds that sustained my research, and to
the Canada Research Chairs program for the time to complete this essay.”
| Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann |
| 1000 | International Journal | Autumn 2005 |
I first consider pragmatic, legal, and moral reasons for a search for
truth. I then consider discussions that emerged from South Africa’s Truth
and Reconciliation Commission about different “kinds” of truth. I contin-
ue with some thoughts about how, by whom, and with what terms of ref-
erence a TCA would be established. Finally, I discuss whether a TCA
would actually effect reconciliation.
My comments are based in part upon conversations with Africans
about reparations. From June 2002 to April 2004, two research assistants
and I interviewed 76 Africans from 25 countries about the relationship
between Africa and the west. These individuals included eight ambassa-
dors to the United States, 26 scholars, and 39 human rights activists and
policy makers.1They also included the three remaining active members of
the Group of Eminent Persons established in 1992 by the then
Organization of African Unity to seek reparations to Africa.2While the peo-
ple we interviewed were not representative of “ordinary” Africans, they are
the kind of people likely to be involved in any serious discussion of a truth
commission for Africa.
From the Nuremburg trials to recent truth commissions, discussions
of both punitive and reparative justice have focused on violations of civil
and political rights. In what follows, I discuss whether a TCA should also
consider violations of economic rights. Much of the dialogue between the
west and Africa is about past and present causes of underdevelopment.
Underdevelopment is an all-encompassing term for massive deprivation of
economic rights. The west owes Africans the truth about this kind of suf-
fering, as much as it owes them the truth about the deprivation of Africans’
civil and political rights.
JUSTIFICATION OF A TRUTH COMMISSION FOR AFRICA
The final declaration of the 2001 world conference against racism made
special note of the need to teach “about the facts and truth of …history,”
arguing that “remembering the crimes or wrongs of the past…and
telling the truth about history are essential elements for international
1 For a summary report of the first 57 interviews, see Anthony P. Lombardo and Rhoda E.
Howard-Hassmann, “Africans on reparations: An analysis of elite and activist opinion,”
Canadian Journal of African Studies
39, no. 3 (2005), forthcoming.
2 Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann, “Reparations to Africa and the Group of Eminent Persons,”
Cahiers d’études africaines
44, nos. 1-2, 173-4 (2004): 81-97.
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