Reconciliation can refer to a condition in which there is a restoration of wholeness—a bringing together of that which has been torn apart. However, the term reconciliation may also be applied to a process: Those that have been divided by destructive conflict and enmity begin to forge new relationships that hold the promise and seeds of a shared future. The first dimension of a reconciliation process addresses the painful trauma of the past; the second focuses on those that have been divided acquiring the hope necessary to anticipate some kind of shared future. In all instances different circumstances will result in different types and degrees of reconciliation.

The bereaved and dispossessed can never recover that which they have lost, but they can learn to live with their sense of personal and collective loss. For the sake of future peace, this is particularly vital for societies emerging from terrible experiences such as...