UNITED NATIONS -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon on Wednesday called on the international community to adhere to global reconciliation strategies.

"Reconciliation is one of the great essentials in our work for post-crisis healing," Ban said at a thematic debate held here.

Post-conflict states are shocked by destruction and death and " accountability can help prevent any recurrence," he explained.

"All too often, even though fighting has stopped, and even after considerable time and effort, feelings can still be raw, and tensions can still erupt at seemingly slight provocation" and " that is why true reconciliation is so important," he said.

The UN General Assembly's debate Wednesday on the role of international criminal justice in reconciliation focused on the importance of embracing this ideological process which aids in disseminating tensions.

This process is precisely where "international criminal justice can make a decisive contribution," said the UN chief.

The "impunity for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and other serious international crimes is no longer acceptable, nor is it tolerated," Ban said.

"But justice is not only a matter of punishing the perpetrators, " he noted. "History has shown that long-term peace and stability requires the acknowledgment of past wrong-doings."

The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) is an example of a court system created to "punish perpetrators," he said.

The SCSL was set up jointly by the government of Sierra Leone and the United Nations. It is mandated to try those who bear the greatest responsibility for serious violations of international humanitarian law and Sierra Leonean law committed in the territory of the West African country since Nov. 30, 1996.

Currently, the three cases heard in Freetown, the Sierra Leonean capital, have been completed. The trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor is nearing completion in The Hague.