(de Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO – The Organization of American States (OAS) will provide technical assistance to Suriname with establishing a truth and reconciliation commission related to the December murders and other crimes committed in the 1980s. OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza made this promise on Thursday during a meeting with Foreign Affairs minister Winston Lackin in Cartagena, Columbia when the minister submitted the formal request.
The request is motivated by the OAS’ extensive experience in bringing about reconciliation in communities in which events of the past might have an effect on the social-economic situation in a stable society, the President’s Office writes in a press release, adding that it has been made because of the government’s commitment to the principles of democracy and the rule of law.
Insulza welcomed the request and promised to provide all necessary technical assistance to Suriname in order to “bring about steadily improving tolerance and reconciliation through objective truth finding”. The meeting was also attended by OAS assistant Secretary General Albert Ramdin and chief of staff Hugo de Zela, while minister Lackin was accompanied by Ambassador Niermala Hindori-Badrising, Suriname’s permanent reprtesentative at the OAS and Chantal Elsenhout, first secretary of Suriname’s permanent office at the OAS.
