The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia (TRC) will from June 15 - 20th, 2009 convene a National Reconciliation Conference at the Unity Conference Center in Virginia, outside Monrovia.
The National Reconciliation Conference will afford Liberians a final opportunity in the current TRC process to impact the TRC's peace building initiatives, discuss the issues that led the nation to conflict and division and begin the process of reconciliation aimed at bringing closure to Liberia's conflict past.
The conference will provide an occasion for garnering the contribution of all Liberians to the reconciliation process and ensure that the TRC process is inclusive leading to the timely submission of the commission's final report and recommendations representing the views of a broad spectrum of the Liberian society.
The conference will offer an opportunity for dialogue, frank discussions and stimulate national debate on key issues that support the commission's reconciliation initiatives. The inclusiveness is to further legitimize the TRC process and its outcomes towards sustainable peace and the rebuilding of the Liberian state.
The event is expected to establish a national consensus on the implementation of the TRC recommendations, develop and adopt agendas for national coordination to ensure that the TRC recommendations take strategic position in government's overall policy decision making processes.
The weeklong deliberations will complement varying views on the issues that featured prominently during the just ended TRC Regional County Consultations and the TRC process in general. County specific presentations on the expectations from the TRC process will be encouraged.
The conference will also create a forum, pursuant to the mandate of the commission, where victims and perpetrators will engage each other in public demonstration of reconciliation, healing and forgiveness, aimed at setting off the nation's reconciliation agenda.
Liberians from the 15 counties, the Diaspora, government functionaries, stakeholders, the TRC partners, the United Nations, private sector, international non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations including the media, human rights activists, the religious community, women, youth groups and national NGOs, etc, will be represented.
