Does it matter what is done with the Liberian TRC data from a historical perspective?
What is important is that people talk about the TRC report, debate what it says, and ensure that it becomes part of the national consciousness. It is now the job of the Liberian government, the NGO community and broader civil society to carry the debate forward in a peaceful way. A key component of that is determining what institutions committed the most violence and why they did it. What was their reasoning and justification? Often, coup leaders justify the overthrow of an existing government to restore justice. But often, as the Liberian TRC shows, those coups come at a great cost: massive violence and the loss of human life. The data shows us that when public order is used as an excuse to commit violence against civilians, we should always be skeptical.
