Victimized Communities in Favor of Seeking Forgiveness

Melbourne, Australia — 1 November, 2007— Victimized communities agree that the act of seeking intergroup forgiveness is key in facilitating the process of reconciliation.

A recent study published in the Wiley-Blackwell journal, Regulation & Governance, showed that a large majority believed that – if conducted in public, popular and democratic manner – the act of seeking forgiveness in an intergroup context will be meaningful to their communities. In addition, they also concurred that the process should be aimed at reconciliation and not at humiliating the requesting group.

Dr. Etienne Mullet, lead author of “Seeking Forgiveness in Intergroup Context: Angolan, Guinean, Mozambican, and East Timorese Perspectives” examines the views of people from Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and East Timor who had suffered personally in civil wars or wars of occupation.

Among the 985 survey participants, almost 90% favored the idea of a community seeking forgiveness from another group. These results were consistent among the four countries in terms of age, gender, education level and level of suffering.

“Asking for intergroup forgiveness is perceived, above all, as a democratic and public process. The participants agreed that public discussions and voting consensus must occur before any concrete action are taken”, says Dr Mullet.

Despite being like-minded in seeking forgiveness, participants of the four countries have different opinions about the actual process – particularly with regards to the degree of involvement on the part of international organizations, and the extent of material compensation that should be incorporated in the process.

Dr. Mullet adds. “Although participants from each country have differing beliefs on the process of seeking forgiveness, the majority supported the idea of seeking intergroup forgiveness and agreed on the key objective of the exercise – that is, the promotion of reconciliation between the groups involved.”

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This paper is published in the December 2007 issue of Regulation & Governance and is available free online at the following URL. Media wishing to receive more information or schedule media interviews with the authors should contact Alina Boey, PR & Communications Manager Asia at alina.boey@asia.blackwellpublishing.com or phone 613-83591046.