Truth Commissions

A Truth commission is a temporary official body set up to enquire into human rights abuses committed over a designated period of time. After gathering evidence from victims, witnesses and perpetrators of abuses, the Commission is in general required by their mandate to furnish a report of its conclusions concerning the affairs under review and to make recommendations to prevent their recurrence in the future. Occasionally, the work of a Truth Commission might be called upon to lend support to any eventual legal proceedings subsequently taken up. A Truth Commission hears the accounts of thousands of victims and endeavours to determine the importance and the characteristics of the violations committed in the past as well as their causes and consequences. Knowing why certain events were allowed to happen can be just as important as a precise description of the actual facts. In the final analysis, the expectation is for the work of the Commission to be able to help a society understand and acknowledge a past which is either cause for dispute or is disavowed, and in so doing, bring to the knowledge of the overall population eyewitness accounts and reports from victims which are often not available to the public at large.

Unlike tribunals, which are the subject of clear international norms in the definition of their structure, composition and fundamental rules of procedure, Truth Commissions differ notably from one country to another in many respects. Nevertheless a certain commonality of structure can be observed:

• an end to the conflict in question needs to have been concluded ;
• the Commission must benefit from both political AND popular support ;
• international support is often essential, especially concerning running costs ;
• it is important that its mandate is clearly and precisely defined: period of operation, period covered by the enquiries, nature of violations to be reviewed, main activities, powers, further action to be taken (amnesty or legal proceedings).

The nineties saw a big increase in interest for this kind of body. As of today’s date, more than 30 Commissions have been established or are still actively working (as is the case in Liberia) Up until the present time, the most important has been that of South Africa (with 400 employees and a budget of 9 million USD).