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Margaret Burnham on Truth Commissions

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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.'"
Related Videos: 
Allan Ryan on Trials and Truth Commissions
Richard Goldstone on Exposing the Truth
Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela on Language and Truth Telling
Video length: 
00 min 55 sec
Date filmed: 
Apr 10 1997