Transitional justice: are truth and reconciliation commissions worth it?
| Autor | Christian Triantaphyllis |
| Cargo | New York Law School, Juris Doctor expected 2011; Southern Methodist University e Bachelor of Arts in Political Science 2003 |
| Páginas | 55-78 |
TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE: ARE
TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION
COMMISSIONS WORTH IT?
Christian Triantaphyllis1
Submetido(submitted): 08 de julho de 2010
Aceito(accepted): 01 de agosto de 2011
Abstract: Truth and reconciliation commissions are becoming an
increasingly popular method used by the international community towards
promoting transitional justice. However, many victims of human rights
violations resort to further means of pursuing justice even after a truth and
reconciliation commission has been engaged, which brings the question
of whether truth and reconciliation commissions are worth the time and
money they require. Incomplete justice and tokenism are among the reasons
that it can be argued that a truth and reconciliation commission is not an
effective alternative in facilitating reparations after human rights atrocities
have occurred. e following analysis explores this question and eventually
identifies valuable transitional justice outcomes that are unique to truth and
reconciliation commissions.
1 New York Law School, Juris Doctor expected 2011; Southern Methodist University e
Bachelor of Arts in Political Science 2003
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Transitional Justice: Are Truth... Christian Triantaphyllis
Key Words: Commissions, Justice, International
Introduction
Transitional justice is an area of law that addresses human
rights violations in order to recognize victims and promote rule of
law. In addition, transitional justice aims to provide accountability
regarding past human rights violators and act as a deterrent to
future human rights violations. Yet, transitional justice differs from
country to country, depending on the circumstances, history, and
types of human rights violations that occurred in the past.
Over the years, two of the most common legal mechanisms
used by the international community and national governments to
assist victims and their family’s needs are truth and reconciliation
commissions and criminal prosecutions. Criminal prosecutions have
been facilitated by ad hoc courts, such as the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), or permanent courts
such as the International Criminal Court. In modern law criminal
prosecutions have been a more common form of pursuing justice in
comparison to the use of truth and reconciliation commissions.
However, over the last several decades truth and reconciliation
commissions have grown in popularity as a mechanism for
transitional justice for a variety of reasons. A truth and reconciliation
commission is “an official investigative body that documents a
pattern of past human rights abuses … [and] provides an alternative
method of addressing a state’s violent past when the violence
resulted in widespread human rights violations that occurred amidst
ethnic, racial, class, or ideological disputes over justice and power.”2
2 Daniel J. Hendy, Is a Truth Commission the Solution to Restoring Peace in Post-Conict
Iraq? 20 Ohio St. J. on Disp. Resol. 527, 535 (2005).
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