Reconciliation "Notions of ethnicity and culture are not static, natural and biological facts, but social construction that are being used for political power purposes." -Inger Agger Overview Reconciliation is imperative to prevent future violence. But the devastating effects of violence on the emotional well being of the affected society, and the often complete breakdown of social cohesion, require a long transitional phase until peaceful coexistence of former adversaries and true human forgiveness can be achieved. The challenge is to reunite the population to cooperate in the reconstruction of the country, its political institutions and its economy. In an ideal case, a post-conflict government that represents all groups of society is put into power. It is often difficult to identify those leaders who are interested in and capable of reconciliatory governance. Rising politicians are tempted to resort to their ethnic group to establish their political power-base. Identity-based political parties emerge. Psychological, social and economic effects of violence in conflicts permeate throughout the entire society, thus reconstruction and reconciliation efforts need to consider all groups–- former combatants, displaced, orphans and widows-– with each group requiring a different type of intervention. Reconciliation becomes increasingly difficult after identity-based civil wars, when leaders have used ethnic, religious or historical differences to mobilize and incite a population to wage war. It becomes almost impossible when atrocities such as ethnic cleansing and genocide have taken place. Furthermore, international organizations might incur difficulties in promoting reconciliation as an explicit policy. The traumatized population is often suspicious of their capacity to achieve reconciliation. Victims question the expertise of international agents, who come in as outsiders without having experienced the atrocities committed during the civil war. Thus, rather than making the establishment of peaceful coexistence an outspoken program objective, organizations might be better advised to pursue reconciliation indirectly, incorporating this goal as one element of their overall Peacebuilding efforts. In the immediate aftermath of the conflict, emotions – hatred, distrust, anger, grief, guilt, loss, fear and sadness - are fresh. There is an imminent threat of relapse into conflict if assistance programs push towards reconciliation too soon. In most cases there is a large number of other, more pressing issues that have to be addressed before reconciliation can take place: providing housing and land for returning refugees, reunification of families, food distribution, re-establishing basic living conditions, etc. Only after this emergency phase of reconstruction should reconciliation be openly addressed as program objective. Peaceful coexistence can only be achieved in the long-term. Agents: A Three-Level Approach Although international organizations can have a major impact as facilitators, the population itself is the main agent for reconciliation. Psychological transformation takes place within the society; outsiders can merely assist this process through incentives. It is useful to consider three levels of society, as suggested by John Paul Lederach's pyramid model. At the apex of the pyramid are political and military leaders, who engage in peace negotiations and are in charge during the transitional situation. Between these top-level officials and the grass-root level, there are the middle-level leaders- religious leaders, prominent academics, activists, journalists, and jurists, as well as the external actors, who provide humanitarian relief. Even though grass-root organizations and communities might be most engaged in the search for peace and stability, they may be vulnerable to manipulation through the opinion leaders. The middle-level is capable of changing perceptions and floating new ideas through their connections both to the top and the grass-root actors. External intervention should therefore target the middle-level as well as assisting grass-root organizations to help them emancipate themselves from the influence of political and military leaders. Possible Stategies Reconciliation can be achieved by creating the awareness of urgent needs of the country and its entire population; needs that have to be addressed and resolved immediately. These super-ordinate goals can only be achieved through the cooperation of former adversaries. Mutual dependence and cooperation increase trust among members of society. - Integration of former combatants: Providing counseling, training and job opportunities to former combatants and others likely to return to violence.
- Peaceful coexistence: Establishing housing projects for ethnically diverse neighborhoods, where community needs can only be met through the cooperation of each community member.
- Prosecution of war criminals and truth commissions: Holding individuals rather than entire groups responsible for atrocities. Trials have to be fair and just. This can be a difficult task as the criminal justice systems in post-conflict countries are often under-resourced. However, the "culture of impunity" has to be overcome. It is more important to achieve justice first, even if that delayed reconciliation.
- Peace-keeping: A period of stability needs to form the platform for meeting basic needs, allowing a period for healing and re-knitting of war-torn communities.
- Civil society: Strengthening and creating a civil society able to step into the breach created by limited government capacity and legitimacy. Building organizations that provide counseling for traumatized population.
- Micro-credit: Facilitating income generating activities predominantly in ethnically mixed communities.
- Law enforcement: Restructuring police forces, so that all ethnic and religious groups are represented in order to establish trust in law enforcement agencies.
- Access to land: Ensuring that land is equally distributed among different groups, in order to guarantee survival of all affected constituencies.
- Guide to project selection: Establishing "social harmony impact assessment tools" for the selection of relief projects implemented or funded by external actors.
- Media: Providing technical assistance and training to press representatives to reestablish a critical media that does not jeopardize the reconciliation process, but at the same time represents all voices of society.
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