Introduction

These opening words were spoken by Archbishop Desmond Tutu during a keynote speech at a conference on the legacies of South Africa’s truth and reconciliation process in 2003. The records are crucial to hold us accountable. They are indispensable as deterrents against a repetition of this ghastliness, and they are a powerful incentive for us to say, “Never again.” They are a potent bulwark against human rights violations. We must remember our past so that we do not repeat it. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, 2003 Archivist Ian Wilson referred to them as the most powerful reflection on the social value of the record. 1 He argued that archives might not deter repressive regimes from violating human rights, but they have the potential to empower the survivors of repression through documentation of their experiences, which are carried into the future. This gives both present and future generations an opportunity to develop an understanding of the nature of human rights violations regardless of time and space for as long as the documentation is well managed. The documentation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (TRCs) constitutes their archives. In this introduction, we elucidate why documentation is crucial to peacebuilding efforts, especially in post-conflict and post-authoritarian societies where there is a public yearning for accountability, justice, and healing. The book discusses the challenges surrounding the TRCs’ documentation, such as its politicization, lack of the political will to democratize access to information, and lack of dissemination and preservation infrastructures that hinder access and its effective use and reuse. The records are crucial to hold us accountable. They are indispensable as deterrents against a repetition of this ghastliness, and they are a powerful incentive for us to say, “Never again.” They are a potent bulwark against human rights violations. We must remember our past so that we do not repeat it.