• GLOBAL:Initial Truth Establishment by Transitional Bodies • TRUTH COMMISSIONS: Moral Justification of (the Idea of) a Truth Commission • RWANDA: The Gacaca Process: Eradicating the Culture of Impunity in Rwanda? • UGANDA: Traditional Approaches to Justice and Reintegration • SOUTH AFRICA: The Truth About Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa • SIERRA LEONE: Reflections on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission • MOROCCO: Transitional Justice in Morocco: A Progress Report • EAST TIMOR: Final Report of the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation • EL SALVADOR: The Salvadoran Truth Commission and the Search for Justice • PERU: Truth and Reconciliation Commission – a First Step Towards a Country Without Injustice • GUATEMALA-SOUTH AFRICA: Lessons Gleaned from Inside the Truth Commissions • ARGENTINA-CHILE-GUATEMALA: Truth Commissions, National History, and State Formation GLOBAL* Initial Truth Establishment by Transitional Bodies and the Fight against Denial Criminal Law Forum (Mar. 2004) When looking at events like genocide, crimes against humanity, apartheid or a widespread disappearance policy, the truth obtained by transitional bodies will have more than one facet. Immediate justice, or other forms of accountability, is certainly a goal and a pressing need. The establishment of a truth, a historical one that will serve as a point of reference now and in the future, is also an objective for transitional bodies. Besides more short-term goals, the truth these bodies establish and share may very well serve for longer periods and may be used as foundations to preclude past criminal behaviour from reappearing. Justice in case of massive human rights violations passes through two major stages: truth establishment and accountability. The second phase is of course critical but the first one is a prerequisite. Continue Reading More on International Law, Justice and Accountability TRUTH COMMISSIONS* Justice Beyond Blame: Moral Justification of (the Idea of) a Truth Commission Journal of Conflict Resolution (June 2006) Truth commissions have existed as mechanisms of transitional justice in some of the societies confronted with legacies of the criminal past. The author focuses on the question of the foundational justification of the idea of a truth commission. With recognizing the complexity and importance of moral and political considerations that are conventionally invoked to justify the existence of this body, the author aims at offering an alternative justificatory account. The main claim is that the specific task capable of providing the ultimate justification of truth commissions consists of rebuilding the lost sense of justice in the community of perpetrators. Continue reading More on International Law, Justice and Accountability RWANDA The Gacaca Process: Eradicating the Culture of Impunity in Rwanda? Institute for Security Studies (Aug. 2005) Eleven years have passed since as many as one million people were killed in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. During that time several initiatives aimed at bringing the perpetrators of the genocide to justice have been under way. These include the efforts of the ICTR headquartered in Arusha, as well as the efforts of Rwanda’s own justice system. The latter began prosecuting genocide-related crimes in 1996, and it soon became apparent that the Rwandan judicial system was incapable of handling the volume of cases involved. Faced with this stark reality, the Rwandan government began to look for other ways of bringing to justice the perpetrators of the genocide. These efforts culminated in the promulgation on 26 January 2001 of the law creating the gacaca jurisdictions tasked with investigating and prosecuting crimes committed between 1 October 1990 and 31 December 1994. Certainly the competing needs for justice and reconciliation present a serious challenge to nation building in the post-genocide era, and raise questions surrounding the definition of ‘justice’ itself. Continue reading More on Rwanda UGANDA Roco Wat I Acoli: Restoring Relationships in Acholi-land: Traditional Approaches to Justice and Reintegration Liu Institute for Global Issues (Sep. 2005) When the Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced its intention to investigate the LRA in 2004, many local leaders in northern Uganda were opposed to the initiative. Traditional, religious and civil society leaders have argued that the ICC places ‘their’ children at greater risk, and threatens to further damage their cultural identity and beliefs. Traditional justice, based on restorative principles, is widely supported as a preferable option to the punitive approach of the Court. A number of advocates, therefore, argue the Court should cease its current investigation until local approaches are given an opportunity to work, or until peace is realized in the region. Despite this, very little is known about traditional justice in Acholi beyond its normative dimensions. This report, Roco Wat I Acoli, provides a much needed analysis of what traditional justice in northern Uganda is, how it is currently practiced and what value it could add. Continue reading More on Uganda SOUTH AFRICA* The Truth About Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa International Political Science Review (Oct. 2005) South Africa's truth and reconciliation process is perhaps the best-known example of an institutionalized attempt to build a more democratic future by confronting human rights atrocities from the past. Yet the South African case is often quite misunderstood, with many misconceptions widely accepted and asserted. The article addresses five facts about the South African experience. Using data from a large national survey of ordinary people, it demonstrates both that the truth and reconciliation process is viewed as effective by most people and that in fact systematic evidence indicates that the process achieved several of its primary goals. From the South African case we learn that, despite their various shortcomings and compromises, truth processes can attain legitimacy among ordinary people in transitional systems and that they can contribute to societal reconciliation. Continue reading More on South Africa SIERRA LEONE* Truth, Lies, Ritual: Preliminary Reflections on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Sierra Leone Human Rights Quarterly (May 2005) This article uses an ethnographic description of a provincial public hearing in Sierra Leone to explore the paradoxical fact that in truth commissions, the truth is seldom told. It argues that the truth was not told for a variety of reasons, some of which are related to the special circumstances of the District, some to the problematic relationship of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission with the Special Court, some to organizational infirmities of the TRC itself, and some to the fact that public truth-telling lacks deep roots in the local cultures of Sierra Leone. By contrast, a staged ceremony of repentance and forgiveness on the final day struck resonant chords with the participants and succeeded in forging a reconciliatory moment. The implication, argues the article, is that in certain circumstances ritual may be more important to reconciliation than truth. Continue reading More on Sierra Leone MOROCCO Transitional Justice in Morocco: A Progress Report International Center for Transitional Justice (Nov. 2005) Within Morocco, the King often ruled with an iron fist. Those who were considered a threat to the regime were subject to a wide range of human rights violations. Starting in the early 1990s, however, a gradual process of dealing with the past began to take root, culminating most recently in the work of the Moroccan Equity and Reconciliation Commission (Instance Equite et Reconciliation (IER)), established by the successor to the throne, King Mohammed VI. The Commission represents a groundbreaking approach for the entire region and is exceptional in many respects. It has the blessings of a King examining the crimes of his own father; its membership comprises many victims of arbitrary detention and torture; it is the only truth commission to ever have possessed the power to grant compensation directly to victims; and it is the first truth commission in the Arab world. For these and other reasons, the IER has the potential for significant regional and international influence, both in the short and long term. Continue reading More on Morocco EAST TIMOR Final Report of the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor International Center for Transitional Justice (Jan. 2006) On 7 March 2000, at a conference of its Comissao Politica Nacional (National Political Commission, NPC) the CNRT decided to form a commission for reconciliation. The Congress endorsed the idea of a truth and reconciliation commission and established a steering committee to conduct consultations to determine whether the idea was acceptable to the broader East Timorese community. This was the beginning of the CAVR. The CAVR’s final report is a product of extensive public testimony from more than 7,000 victims and of comprehensive investigations and research that yielded dramatic evidence of Indonesia’s responsibility for at least 102,800 deaths. The report also points to the failure of Indonesia and the international community to uphold their legal and moral obligations to bring perpetrators to justice. In that light, the report is a seminal document that should be widely available, not only to the people of Timor-Leste and Indonesia, but also across the globe. Continue reading More on East Timor EL SALVADOR* The Salvadoran Truth Commission and the Search for Justice Criminal Law Forum (Mar. 2004) The establishment of a truth commission is now widely seen as part of an overall strategy to address massive human rights and humanitarian law violations. Often serving as an initial component of a broader effort, a truth commission can play a vital role in setting the stage for additional efforts to overcome impunity and promote reconciliation. From today's vantage point, the Truth Commission for El Salvador must be seen as an early model. In designing the Truth Commission for El Salvador, the peace negotiators drew on the experience of commissions previously established in Argentina and Chile. The Salvadoran commission, while sui generis, raises important issues about the relationship of a truth commission to the justice system that may be relevant to subsequent efforts to address impunity. Continue reading More on El Salvador PERU Peru: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission – a First Step Towards a Country Without Injustice Amnesty International (Aug. 2004) During the two decades of internal armed conflict between the Peruvian State and the armed opposition groups, Partido Comunista del Perú (Sendero Luminoso), Communist Party of Peru (Shining Path), and Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac Amaru (MRTA), Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement,(1) Amnesty International documented widespread systematic violations of the fundamental rights of large sections of the population. Against this background, Amnesty International welcomed the setting up of the Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación (CVR) del Perú, Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Peru, seeing it as an important step on the road to fully satisfying the rights of the victims and their families to know the truth about what happened during the two decades of internal armed conflict, to have access to justice so that those responsible can be tried and punished and to receive appropriate reparation. This report brings together the main conclusions and recommendations contained in the CVR’s Final Report which was published in August 2003. Continue reading More on Peru GUATEMALA-SOUTH AFRICA* Lessons Learned: Practical Lessons Gleaned from Inside the Truth Commissions of Guatemala and South Africa Human Rights Quarterly (Nov. 2003) The truth commissions of South Africa and Guatemala were important in bringing global attention to the subject of truth-seeking. This article presents some of the key observations and recommendations made by commissioners and staff directly involved in these commissions about the official truth-seeking process which evolved in both countries. These reflections provide practical lessons as to the structure and mandate of the truth commission, data collection and public hearings, information management and reporting to the public, from which future commissions might draw ideas. Continue reading More on Guatemala and South Africa ARGENTINA-CHILE-GUATEMALA The Instruction of Great Catastrophe: Truth Commissions, National History, and State Formation in Argentina, Chile, and Guatemala The American Historical Review (Feb. 2005) Discussion about the efficacy of truth commissions often confuses the task of commissions to document and interpret acts of political violence with their function in promoting nationalism and consolidating state legitimacy. Debates between critics and celebrants often turn on the proper balance between the pursuit of justice through prosecution of human rights violators and the need to establish national unity through a cathartic process of testimony, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Proponents of the latter position emphasize the therapeutic benefits of public confession, both for victims and perpetrators. Skeptics, however, either question the suitability of applying psychoanalytical concepts to political and social relations or argue that the best way to cultivate patience for proceduralism is through trials that hold perpetrators accountable. Continue reading More on Argentina and Chile and Guatemala Compiled by Arezou Farivar and Robert Hartfiel Human Security Research is produced by the Human Security Centre at the Liu Institute for Global Issues at UBC. 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