Memory and Reparation: Gestures of Forgiveness of Several States for Past Crimes
Several States have officially recognized genocide, colonial abuses and human rights violations, including Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and the United States, which have apologized. As in the case of Gernika, there were events that were profoundly marked by the community.
Indigenous people demonstrating for respect for their rights. Photo: EFE
Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United States and other States have apologized for genocide, colonial abuse and human rights violations, stressing the importance of memory and symbolic reparation.
These gestures are of increasing importance to memory and symbolic reparation , although many communities also demandeffective measures or compensation beyond the phantom forgiveness.
Here are some of the most notable cases:
Netherlands
He apologized for the Rawagede massacre in Indonesia, his colonial dominion.
Declaration of other violence in Indonesia between 1945 and 1949.
United States
He apologized for medical experiments on African-American communities like Tuskegee.
Recognition of attacks and systematic discrimination against indigenous peoples.
He apologized for medical experiments in Guatemala in the 1940s, where American scientists deliberately infected nearly 700 people with gonorrhea and syphilis, including prisoners and mentally ill people, without their consent.
Australia
He apologized to indigenous peoples for their policies of forcibly separating children from their families ("Stolen Generations").
Canada
He apologized to the indigenous peoples for the systems of residential schools separating children and families.
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