A truth commission, sometimes called a truth and reconciliation commission or a truth and justice commission, is an official governmental body created to investigate and disclose wrongdoing by a past government or, in some cases, non-state actors, typically in a country emerging from internal unrest, civil war, or a dictatorship marked by human rights abuses. As a body with governmental authority it acts as a formal fact-finding mechanism able to counter denial of past state crimes and produce an authoritative final report, and rather than pursuing retributive punishment it generally favors restorative approaches, sometimes holding public hearings where victims describe their experiences and, at times, confront perpetrators, with the aim of helping a divided society heal, though the choices such a commission makes about truth, reconciliation, justice, memory, reparation, and recognition, and about whose needs come first, are themselves inescapably political.
Sources
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.