Are you a victim or a perpetrator?

The Liberia Truth and Reconciliation Commission website recently posted an application that people can submit online to request amnesty for crimes committed during the war.

Below are my two main issues with this application, excerpted from a post I recently made to a listserv. I would love to hear other peoples’ thoughts on this application. If you post something in the comments section below, I will paste it into a new blog entry tomorrow.

1. Several questions on the application are inherently stigmatizing. The first question asks whether the respondent is a victim, perpetrator, or other. During a trip to Monrovia two months ago, I heard lots of talk about the idea that every Liberian is a victim on some level, and that to survive the war most people, at some point, had to be a perpetrator. Yet this question does not take into account the possibility of overlap. Another question asks the respondent to mark the highest level of education attainment. While I understand the importance of collecting this type of information, the question’s presence on this application could confuse respondents into thinking that there is a correlation between responsibility and education level. This question also encourages people to understand themselves as “educated” or “uneducated,” a dichotomy that already permeates much of Liberian society and should not be reinforced by a document attempting to promote reconciliation.
2. Many of us talk about the importance of local, meaningful solutions to local issues. This form, however, is inappropriate for a Liberian context where most of the population cannot read or write and lack Internet access. Moreover, I understand the form was not written by a Liberian. Perhaps the form is an effort to reach out to more westernized Liberians in Liberia and the diaspora. In fact many Liberians and non-Liberians, myself included, have found the TRC website to be a very useful tool. Maybe this on-line form is only a small part of a larger effort to encourage amnesty applications. Yet according to an Amnesty International report, no one had requested amnesty as of February 2008. It appears this tool might be the only serious way the TRC is attempting to encourage amnesty applications. I hope the TRC is considering other approaches for raising awareness about the process of submitting amnesty requests that will reach and be more accessible to a wider Liberian audience.