Amnesty and Forgiveness

Like apology, amnesty and forgiveness are important tools for bringing about reconciliation in a variety of conflict situations. "Forgiveness is not 'giving up,' or 'letting the other off the hook.' It is a self-realization that allows one to develop a sense of compassion" (McFarland 1995, 1).

In deep-rooted international or internal ethnic conflicts (such as those in the Middle East or the Balkans), reconciliation cannot occur until all sides are willing to forgive the others for their wrongdoing. According to Montville (1993, 112), "Transactional contrition and forgiveness between aggressors and victims is indispensable to the establishment of a new relationship based on mutual acceptance and reasonable trust." Such forgiveness is hard—especially if one is forgiving unspeakable violence, as occurred in the Balkans. However, over the long run, it can help heal wounds and allow people to get on with their personal, social, and political lives. "The more common misperception is that by performing acts of revenge, one's hurt will go away. This notion blocks people from coming out of their pain and moving on" (McFarland 1995, 10). Forgiveness does not come quickly or naturally, however. People need time to mourn their loss and to heal to some extent before they are ready to forgive.

One of the dilemmas of conflict resolution is whether to institutionalize forgiveness in the form of granting amnesty for war crimes, or whether such crimes should be prosecuted. In some cases, one side insists on prosecuting war criminals (for instance, when many Nazis were tried for war crimes after World War II). In other cases, wars can be ended (and many deaths and atrocities avoided) if all sides are granted amnesty from prosecution. This was the case in the Nicaraguan conflict between the Sandinistas and the Contras, which was ended with the Esquipulas Agreement of 1987. Among other provisions, this agreement granted amnesty to all insurgents. Paul Wehr tells a moving story about this process: "Time and again, the spirit of reconciliation was evident in the way Sandinistas dealt with their opposition. By way of illustration, Interior Minister Tomas Borge came upon a National Guard officer who had only months before the Sandinista victory tortured, raped, and killed Borge's wife. He took the officer out of the line, who undoubtedly feared he would be executed immediately. Instead, according to the account, Borge told him, 'My revenge will be to pardon you'" (Wehr and Nepstad 1994, 89). The South African offer of amnesty to perpetrators of political violence during the apartheid era is another example. Without amnesty, the successful transition to the new democratic structure would have been much less likely.