Publications and Lectures
Truth and Reconciliation Commissions:
Do They Do Justice to Justice? A Public Event Concluded the Conference
"Peace Talks and Red Sox. Ten years after the Good Friday Agreement."
Monica McWilliams, Northern Ireland
Monica McWilliams. Professor McWilliams was appointed Chief Commissioner for Human Rights in Northern Ireland from September 2005. Previously, she was Professor of Women's Studies and Social Policy at the University of Ulster. She was a Member of the Legislative Assembly in Northern Ireland from 1996 to 2003. She was the co-founder of the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition, a political party involved in the Northern Ireland Forum from 1996 to 1998. As a member of the Multi-Party Peace Negotiations, she was a signatory to the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
"The international community provided the arms. We provided the dead."
José Maria Argueta, Guatemala
Jose Maria Argueta has served as Guatemala’s ambassador to Peru and Japan. Previous to this he served as the National Security Advisor to President Ramiro de Leon Carpio, where he authored and implemented the “Crisis Committee,” an entity designed to institutionalize the presidential decision-making process. In the late 1980s and early 1990s he coauthored and implemented the ESTNA Methodology, a conflict resolution method that was instrumental in the peace processes of Guatemala and El Salvador. While serving as ambassador to Japan, he authored the Central America-Japan Initiative, which was conducive to the August 2005 “Tokyo Declaration.” While Ambassador to Peru, he was taken hostage by the Tupac Amaru, at the residence of the Japanese Ambassador. He played a central role in negotiating with the guerrillas the release of many of the hostages. He has served as a consultant to the Inter-American Development Bank, Harvard University’s Center for Conflict Resolution, and the National Endowment of Democracy.
"There continues to be anger. But we have to ask what the alternatives were."
Mary Burton, South Africa
Mary Burton served as a commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa. She moved to South Africa in 1961, where she joined the Black Sash, a human-rights group formed in 1955 and made up of white South African women. Between 1986 and 1990, she was its National President. She was elected to the Council of the University of Cape Town, and from 2000 to 2003, she was its Deputy Chairperson. In 1994 she served as the Provincial Electoral Officer in the Western Cape, and at the same time became a South African citizen. In 1995 she was appointed as a commissioner on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. She is currently a member of the governing Trust of the Black Sash. She maintains an active interest in matters related to human rights and the reduction of poverty and inequity.
"In other countries, truth commissions grew out of Peace negiotiations, but our peace negotiations ended ten years ago."
Dawn Purvis, Northern Ireland
Dawn Purvis, MLA, is the leader of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) in Northern Ireland, and previously party Chairperson, and PUP's Spokesperson on Women's Affairs. Dawn was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly to represent Belfast East in March 2007.
Dawn is Leader of the Progressive Unionist Party, appointed by the Executive Committee after the death of David Ervine. She joined the party in 1994 and has held a number of offices in the last 12 years including Chairperson, Chair of the Women’s Commission and Spokesperson on Equality. She has helped produce many of the party’s policy documents. Dawn has been involved in politics for 15 years, was talks coordinator for the party (1996-1998) at the multi party talks which led to the Good Friday Agreement. Dawn was the PUP Assembly Co-ordinator during the first term of the Northern Ireland Assembly. In April 2006 Dawn was appointed as an independent member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board and held this position until her election to the Northern Ireland Assembly. She is committed to assisting working class Unionism into playing a constructive and active role within our society.