25 May to 1 June

'Apology, forgiveness and authenticity

In a recent reflection we talked about the importance often attributed to apology and forgiveness, in the attempt to achieve reconciliation after conflict. These human(e) acts can clearly contribute to the healing of relationships at both personal and societal levels. However, they can only do so if they are 'good enough' and we drew attention to problems that arise, because saying 'sorry' means little, unless accompanied by right feelings and intentions.

The difficulty for perpetrators of violence and human rights abuse who wish to apologise, is in finding ways of persuading their victims that what they say is to be believed. If his apology is to ring true, the apologiser has somehow to convince his victims that he is able to empathise with what they suffered because of his actions. One way he might do so would be by demonstrating his ability to tell a 'true' story about their experience - one that sounds authentic. Only if he can do this will a perpetrator be able to convince his victims that he knows and understands in any real sense, what he is apologising for. And only if he achieves that will they be able to believe that his apology is genuine.

Gavin Fairbairn, Dave Webb, Seidu Alidu and Ayeray Medina Bustos, School of Applied Global Ethics