Truth and reconciliation commission

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A truth commission or truth and reconciliation commission is a commission tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state actors also), in the hope of resolving conflict left over from the past. They are, under various names, occasionally set up by states emerging from periods of internal unrest, civil war, or dictatorship. South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established by President Nelson Mandela after apartheid, is popularly considered a model of Truth Commissions, rarely if ever^{[citation needed]} achieved in other parts.

As government reports, they can provide proof against historical revisionism of state terrorism and other crimes and human rights abuses. Truth commissions are sometimes criticised for allowing crimes to go unpunished, and creating impunity for serious human rights abusers. Their roles and abilities in this respect depend on their mandates, which vary widely.

One of the difficult issues that has arisen over the role of truth commissions in transitional societies, has centered around what should be the relationship between truth commissions and criminal prosecutions.^[1]

Contents 1 List of truth and reconciliation commissions 1.1 Argentina 1.2 Canada 1.3 Chile 1.4 El Salvador 1.5 Fiji 1.6 Ghana 1.7 Guatemala 1.8 Liberia 1.9 Morocco 1.10 Panama 1.11 Peru 1.12 Sierra Leone 1.13 Solomon Islands 1.14 South Africa 1.15 South Korea 1.16 East Timor 1.17 United States 2 See also 3 References 4 External links

[edit] List of truth and reconciliation commissions

[edit] Argentina

• National Commission for Forced Disappearances (Comisión Nacional sobre la Desaparición de Personas)

[edit] Canada

• Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission

[edit] Chile

• National Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Comisión Nacional de Verdad y Reconciliación; "Rettig Report")
• National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture ("Valech Report")

[edit] El Salvador

• Commission on the Truth for El Salvador(Comisión de la Verdad) (United Nations^[2]

[edit] Fiji

• Reconciliation and Unity Commission

[edit] Ghana

• National Reconciliation Commission ^[3]

[edit] Guatemala

• Historical Clarification Commission (Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico)

[edit] Liberia

• Truth and Reconciliation Commission ^[4]

[edit] Morocco

• Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER).

[edit] Panama

• Truth Commission (Comisión de la Verdad)

[edit] Peru

• Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación)

[edit] Sierra Leone

• Truth and Reconciliation Commission

[edit] Solomon Islands

As of September 2008, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission has been proposed by the government. Its aim would be to "address people’s traumatic experiences during the five year ethnic conflict on Guadalcanal (1999-2004)". It would be modelled on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa. In late August 2008, Sam Iduri, Minister for Peace and Reconciliation, introduced a Truth and Reconciliation Commission Bill to Parliament.^[5]

In February 2009, it was reported that Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa, would visit the Solomons in April to assist in setting up the Commission.^[6]

[edit] South Africa

• Truth and Reconciliation Commission After the transition from apartheid, President Nelson Mandela authorized a truth commission to study the effects of apartheid in that country. ^[7]

[edit] South Korea

• Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Republic of Korea) (Korean: 진실·화해를 위한 과거사 정리 위원회),^[8] government^[9]

Under the "Framework Act on Clearing up Past Incidents for Truth and Reconciliation", the Commission’s purpose is to foster national legitimacy and reconcile the past for the sake of national unity by honoring those who participated in anti-Japanese movements and exposing the truth by investigating incidents regarding human rights abuses, violence, and massacres occurring since Japanese rule to the present time, specifically during the nation’s authoritarian regimes.

[edit] East Timor

• Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor (Comissão de Acolhimento, Verdade e Reconciliação de Timor Leste; 2001-2005)
• Indonesia-Timor Leste Commission of Truth and Friendship (2005–2008)

[edit] United States

• Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission (GTRC)
• Joshua Micah Marshall has called for a truth and reconciliation commission about U.S.-sponsored torture in Iraq and elsewhere.^[10]
• Kenneth Brady outlines a potential U.S. Truth and Reconciliation Commission in his movie The Time Is Now, and examines human rights abuses resulting from U.S. foreign policy actions taken over the last 40 years.^[11]
• There have been calls in the U.S., led by Senator Patrick Leahy and Representative John Conyers, for a 'truth commission' to investigate, but not prosecute, alleged crimes of the Bush administration.^[12][13][14]

[edit] See also

• The German policy of Vergangenheitsbewältigung is commonly compared to truth and reconciliation

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Republic of Korea
• Truth Commissions Digital Collection (United States Institute of Peace)
• Truth Commission
• International Center of Transitional Justice
• Andrew Schaap, Reconciliation as ideology and politics