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PARLIAMENTARY FORUM FOR DEMOCRACY NEWS
already seen ) several ups and downs , you can trust that Tunisians won ‟ t want to return to dictatorship .
- One condition must be met , however . This condition is , that the past must be public , archives must be open , so the voters can know the past of each political contester . Old regime loyalists , hiding their past and their sins , should not appeal for the support of voters . On the other hand , should voters be aware who did what , and vote in full command of knowledge , then it is a decision of the citizens that must be respected by all democrats . Truth and reconciliation process No country in the world can afford that one part of the society crowds out the other one . When they were in power , they crowded out democrats , not democrats are back to politics and now they crowd out the former ones ? There must be a reconciliation process that brings peace and cohabitation into the society . Reconciliation , however , goes hand in hand with truth process . No reconciliation can become successful without genuine public discussions about the past , and on the other way around : Revealing the past makes sense only , if it does not serve a mere reckoning , but if it serves peace and reconciliation . There are many failures could have been seen is this process was onesided , and we could also eyewitness gorgeous success stories like Spain or South Africa , where the purpose of the exercise has been and continues to be a political situation that different people may think very different things about the future , but non of the puts into question that they all belong to the same political community that is called a nation .
WINDS OF CHANGE AND JUSTICE IN TUNISIA , A COUNTRY ALSO IN TRANSITION
BY HANNEKE GEDERBLOM-LANKHOUT
Dear participants in this discussion of today on the topic : “ justice in countries in transition ”. Justice is not only about a justice system . It is also about how laws are being formulated , about their implementation and the ways they are to be enforced .