Paper/Proposal Title
Understanding Truth: How Commissioners Influence the Final Report of a Truth Commission
Start Date
11-10-2017 8:30 AM
Keywords
Truth Commissions, Transitional Justice, Political Memory, Chile
Abstract
Ensuring a future of human rights means coming to terms with past violations of human rights. This both recognizes human rights as an important position in the policy of the state and helps to end a system of impunity against such actions, even if it is done symbolically. One of the major mechanisms that states have used to address their past has been truth commissions. The strength of truth commissions lies in their ability to bring to light the voices of the victims as well as their ability to criticize those who have committed human rights abuses.
In order to gain a better understanding of this second strength of truth commissions, this paper examines to what extent the political makeup of a commission influences the degree to which the final report of the truth commission criticizes an abusive regime.
Using Chile’s National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation (Rettig Commission) and National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture (Valech Commission) as case studies, the paper examines two nearly identically structured truth commissions to study how changing the political backgrounds of the commissioners can affect the outcome of the commission.
After exploring the backgrounds of the commissioners from both commissions, the paper analyzes the final reports of the truth commissions in order to examine the influence the commissioners had on the process.
Understanding Truth: How Commissioners Influence the Final Report of a Truth Commission
Ensuring a future of human rights means coming to terms with past violations of human rights. This both recognizes human rights as an important position in the policy of the state and helps to end a system of impunity against such actions, even if it is done symbolically. One of the major mechanisms that states have used to address their past has been truth commissions. The strength of truth commissions lies in their ability to bring to light the voices of the victims as well as their ability to criticize those who have committed human rights abuses.
In order to gain a better understanding of this second strength of truth commissions, this paper examines to what extent the political makeup of a commission influences the degree to which the final report of the truth commission criticizes an abusive regime.
Using Chile’s National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation (Rettig Commission) and National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture (Valech Commission) as case studies, the paper examines two nearly identically structured truth commissions to study how changing the political backgrounds of the commissioners can affect the outcome of the commission.
After exploring the backgrounds of the commissioners from both commissions, the paper analyzes the final reports of the truth commissions in order to examine the influence the commissioners had on the process.
