A new laboratory for merciful justice

As the U.K. debates transitional justice in Northern Ireland, South Africa shows the patient and difficult work of reconciliation.

The Monitor's View

It has become increasingly common for post-conflict societies to seek reconciliation through models of justice focused on truth-telling and mercy. The latest example is in Northern Ireland. A bill before the United Kingdom’s House of Lords would create a commission to investigate atrocities committed during “the Troubles” of the late 20th century and grant amnesty to perpetrators in exchange for honesty about their roles.

That essential trade-off has been tried in places from Rwanda to Colombia. It requires an often-uncomfortable balancing between forgiveness and accountability, between grace and retribution. Finding that balance can take generations. In South Africa, the expected release of an apartheid-era assassin from prison on Dec. 1 is compelling that country to recommit to its own model of justice enshrined during its transition to democracy nearly 30 years ago.

In 1993, during the tense final years of apartheid, a charismatic liberation movement leader named Chris Hani was shot dead in his driveway. His assailant, Janusz Waluś, had hoped to spark a civil war to preserve white rule. He was convicted and condemned to death. The sentence was commuted to life in prison after a post-apartheid South Africa abolished the death penalty. Mr. Waluś eventually apologized to Mr. Hani’s family and has been eligible for parole since 2005. Last week, the Constitutional Court ordered his release.

This isn’t the first time the release of an apartheid-era killer has forced a new reckoning over reconciliation. Mr. Hani’s family opposes the decision. Social media lit up in protest. In response, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo argued an uncomfortable truth about democracy. South Africa’s Bill of Rights, he said, “is there for all, even those who fought democracy and those who supported apartheid with all their hearts.”

South Africa’s difficult and unfinished pursuit of national reconciliation may offer a lesson in patience for Northern Ireland. In the nearly 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement ended political violence there, peace has held, but the province has made little progress toward reconciliation. Only 7% of children attend integrated schools for both Catholics and Protestants. Few of the more than 3,600 killings during the Troubles have been solved. 

Human rights organizations and families of the victims say the amnesty bill would let killers off the hook. Sponsors of the legislation hope it will open a needed healing pathway. “No government can legislate to reconcile people,” said Lord Jonathan Caine during debate last week, “though we can strive to promote it.” 

“At its core,” wrote Sisonke Msimang, a fellow at South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand Institute for Social and Economic Research, in Foreign Policy, “reconciliation relies on truth as the basis for building a joint future. If the perpetrator can agree that they caused harm through their actions, and if they are prepared to be held accountable, then the victim may one day forgive them and society may redeem them.”

Tethering justice to mercy is a renewable choice. Northern Ireland may be poised to join other post-conflict societies willing to make it.