Margaret Burnham on Truth Commissions
Northeastern University School of Law
professor Margaret Burnham was asked by South African President Nelson
Mandela to serve on an international commission that investigated human
rights violations committed by the African National Congress. That
commission was a precursor to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
In this video clip from a Facing History panel discussion, Burnham
talks about the objectives of truth commissions.
Transcript:
"Truth Commissions seek to find the truth, but
in the very broadest sense of the term ‘truth' because the Truth
Commission is really more about publicizing a truth that is generally
well known in any event. It's about publicizing and making official a
particular version of the truth or a particular story about the truth,
a particular narrative of the truth. They seek reconciliation as the
objective of the South African model. And perhaps most importantly,
they seek to bring the country to a point where it can begin anew,
begin anew after having said...‘never again, we've learned from the past,
and we'll try to assure that it is not repeated.'"
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Video length:
00 min 55 sec
Date filmed:
Apr 10 1997 
