Ms Doireann Ansbro:

I am not sure what the Senator means by restorative justice in this context. My understanding of restorative justice relates to a framework in which, for example, a victim can meet a perpetrator after a court case as an alternative to sentencing. I do not think it is a term that we hear in international human rights law, for example. We talk about transitional justice because it offers a framework to address all of these different issues, including memorialisation and reparation. What is really crucial about the whole idea of transitional justice is that it has different pillars.

The different pillars are meant to be applied together in a complementary way. Truth is very important. The four pillars are truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence. Truth is very important so we know how to deal with justice and appropriate reparations. Without the truth and knowing what happened, it is impossible to know how to respond in terms of adequate reparations. Then there are guarantees of non-recurrence. How can we guarantee this is not going to happen again if we do not have information about how it happened in the first place? We say they are interlocking pillars that must be approached together. When one takes the survivor-centred, family-centred approach, it can shed light on which one to place more emphasis on. That is why the survivor-centred, family-centred approach is so crucial. It offers the opportunity to respond in a way that is appropriate for each family who has been affected.