Forgiveness, restorative justice and reconciliation in sustainable peacebuilding: contemporary debates and future possibilities

Since the mid 1990s, growing attention has been given in the scholarly debate and in the public sphere to forgiveness, restorative justice and reconciliation in peacebuilding. These concepts have been reflected upon and highlighted as core components of restoring right relationships and in sustainable peacebuilding: at first focusing mainly on individuals and relations between them and later as well on relations of communities and states in the public sphere. Attempts to better understand forgiveness and reconciliation in relation to peacebuilding have to address also the critical issue of how to safeguard and integrate processes of justice into peace processes. After first clarifying the distinction between retributive and restorative justice, this article considers core findings of Daniel Philpott, John Paul Lederach and Leonel Narvaez in their peacebuilding studies and considers selected, contemporary reconciliation and peace initiatives. The article argues that forgiveness, restorative justice and reconciliation processes should be further mainstreamed and integrated as part of any standard response to major conflicts and wars by national political bodies, religious communities and religious/secular NGOs, international organisations, agencies and institutions: in order to positively and sustainably resolve and transform conflicts, wars and violence between groups, and to build sustainable peace.