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Truth Commissions

Truth Commissions. PSCI 335. Definition. Patricia Hayner describes them as “ bodies set up to investigate a past history of violations of human rights in a particular country – which can include violations by the military or other government forces or armed opposition forces ” (1994). Cont.

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Truth Commissions

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  1. Truth Commissions PSCI 335

  2. Definition • Patricia Hayner describes them as “bodies set up to investigate a past history of violations of human rights in a particular country – which can include violations by the military or other government forces or armed opposition forces” (1994).

  3. Cont. • In 2001, Hayner identified 4 traits of TCs: • investigate past not on-going human rights abuses • examine a pattern of human rights abuses over time rather than a specific event • are temporary bodies • are official bodies sanctioned, authorized, or empowered by the state

  4. Truth vs historical commissions • Mark Freeman (2006) distinguished truth commissions (investigating past, but relatively recent human rights violations) from historical commissions (investigating historical crimes distant in time), event-specific investigations (focused on a concentrated episode of human rights violations), institutional investigations (within a specific institution), and thematic investigations (on a specific theme)

  5. Examples of truth commissions

  6. When Constituted? 1970s: Uganda (1974) 1980s: Bolivia (1982), Argentina (1983), Uruguay and Zimbabwe (1985), Uganda (1986) 1990s: Nepal, Chad and Chile (1990), El Salvador (1991), Germany (1992), South Africa (ANC I and II – 1992, TRC - 1995), Burundi (1993), Sri Lanka and Haiti (1994), Ecuador (1996), Guatemala (1997), Nigeria (1999) 2000s: Sierra Leone and East Timor (2000), Peru and Panama (2001), Chile and Morocco (2004), Liberia and Romania (2006), Moldova (2010)

  7. Who Constituted Them? • Head of state/government • Unelected: Uganda, Zimbabwe, Chad, Morocco • Elected: Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Haiti, Nigeria, Liberia, Romania • Parliament: Uruguay, Sierra Leone, Germany • Ministers: Uganda (1986), Ecuador • Political party (South Africa ANC I and II) • International community (El Salvador, Guatemala, Burundi, East Timor)

  8. How Large the Commission? (number of members) • Small: El Salvador, Guatemala, South Africa ANC I (3), Uganda (5) • Medium: Haiti, Panama, Liberia and Ecuador (7), Chile, Bolivia (8), Argentina (10), Chad and Peru (12) • Large: South Africa TRC and Morocco (17)

  9. How Long Did They Work? Under 1 year: • Panama, Uruguay, South Africa ANC I, Ecuador, El Salvador, Argentina, Chile, Haiti, Burundi, Romania 1 - 2 years: • Nepal, Nigeria, Chile (2004) and South Africa ANC II, Chad, Guatemala, Peru Longer: • South Africa TRC, Sri Lanka (3 years) East Timor (5 years), Uganda (1986 – 9 years)

  10. Failed Commissions • Bolivia and Ecuador – disbanded without producing a final report • Fidji – parliament unable to adopt law setting up the commission following 2 years of debates • Uruguay – commission changed final report because of political pressure to recognize “irregularities” unreflective of institutional responsibility • Zimbabwe – commission work secretive, report never published

  11. Cases • Argentina • Uganda • Sri Lanka • ANC (South Africa) • South Africa (TRC)

  12. 1. Argentina • Dirty War (1976-1983), illegal repression of opposition forces by military government of Jorge Videla • Videla ruled Argentina after coup d’etat against Isabel Peron • 30,000 victims, others went into exile • 2006 – Dirty War termed a genocide by a Argentinian court • 500 killed and 600 disappeared in 1973-6 under Peron’s and Isabel Peron’s governments • Videla prosecuted in 1985, sent to jail, pardoned (1990), rearrested (1998) for kidnapping children

  13. Argentina’s CONADEP (1983) • National Commission on the Disappeared set up by presidential decree • 10 members appointed by President, chaired by writer Ernesto Sabato, working in 5 different departments • Collected info: visits to detention centers, police stations; interviews with returned exiles, families of disappeared • Supported by human rights organizations, but not by the armed forces • Led to amnesties military regime granted itself being revoked (1986), and 5 generals were send to jail (Trial of the Juntas)

  14. Nunca Mas • Final report prepared in 9 months, completed in Sep 1984; best-seller • Based on 50,000 documents, 7,000 statements, documenting 9,000 disappeared, including 1,500 survivors of detention camps • “La víctima perdía todos los derechos; privada de toda comunicación con el mundo exterior…sometida a suplicios infernales, ignorante de su destino … susceptible de ser arrojada al río o al mar, con bloques de cemento en sus pies, o reducida a cenizas” (Prologue)

  15. 2. Idi Amin • 1971 (military coup) - 1979 (deposed); “His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea, and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular“ and “King of Scotland” • After 1979 exiled in S.Arabia; died 2003 • Exiled 50,000 Pakistani and Indians living in Uganda • Killed from 80,000 to 500,000 people • 2/3 of all 9,000 army officers executed

  16. Uganda (1974) • Commission of Inquiry into the Disappearance of People – investigated abuses of 1971-1974 • 5 members (2 police, 2 military), chaired by an expatriate Pakistani judge • Collection of info: 545 testimonials documenting 308 cases of disappearance • Recommended reforms of police and army • Little impact on the Idi Amin government and its human rights record

  17. Uganda (1986) • Commission of Inquiry into Violations of Human Rights (the Odoki Commission) • 5 members appointed by Minister of Justice under new President Yoweri Museveni • Investigated human rights abuses from Oct 1962 (Uganda’s independence) to Jan 1986 • Collection of info: public hearings (accused given chance to rebut testimonials; “hearsay” not accepted) • Report issued 9 years later (no initial deadline), not distributed by the government • Commission helped include human rights provisions in 1995 constitution, which created the permanent Ugandan Human Rights Commission

  18. 3. Sri Lanka • Since 1983 on-going civil war between gov’t and separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam claimed 65,000 lives • Unrecognized “state” (supreme court, central bank, police, army, naval force), Tamil majority • Reject constitutional provision recognizing Sri Lanka as a “unitary state”

  19. Sri Lanka (Nov. 1994) • Commissions of Inquiry into the Involuntary Removal or Disappearance of Persons - 3 commissions, same mandate, covering 3 regions; • Investigated Jan 1988-1994 (gov’t against Tamil forces, and gov’t against People’s Liberation Front in the South) • In Jan 1994, Sri Lanka was accused by UN of human rights violations • 27,000 disappearances • Reports (Sep 1997) released to public, reparations program; another commission tried to answer questions omitted, army officers not indicted because of on-going conflict

  20. Recent Efforts • Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Involuntary Removals and Disappearances • Worked 2001-2002 • To follow up and close outstanding cases of the first 3 provincial commissions • 3 members appointed by President Chandrika Kumaratunga (President 1994-2005) • Received over 10,000 complaints • Final report, April 2002

  21. 4. ANC (South Africa) • Example of non-governmental commissions established independently by an armed resistance group to investigate its own past abuses • ANC engaged in violent resistance and military tactics against Apartheid gov’t • Appointed by ANC President Nelson Mandela (before becoming President of South Africa) in 1992 and 1993 • Investigated abuses by young, inexperienced guards in ANC detention camps in Angola 1979-1988, Uganda • Predecessors of the TRC

  22. Commission on Enquiry into Complaints by Former African National Congress Prisoners and Detainees (the “Skweyiya Commission”) • 3 members (2 ANC members) • Report prepared in 7 months, documenting “stag-gering brutality” in ANC camps – convictions based on confession obtained through torture • Collection of info: 17 testimonials (11 detained without trial for more than 3 years), reported on 29 disappearances, 32 cases of torture • Criticized: potential witnesses intimidated by ANC majority on commission; not required to document deaths in detention; failed to give names • Mandela assumed collective responsibility on behalf of ANC leadership, but asked for leaders not be named or blamed individually

  23. Commission of Enquiry into Certain Allegations of Cruelty and Human Rights Abuse against ANC Prisoners and Detainees by ANC Members ( “Motsuenyane Commission”) • 3 independent members • Hearings conducted in 1993, adversarial (“defendants” and “accused”) • 50 witnesses, including 11 perpetrators • Report released in 1992, conclusions similar to previous commission’s • After winning 1994 elections, ANC called for a TRC to investigate abuses on both sides of the conflict

  24. 5. Apartheid in South Africa • Apartheid = apartness • Racial segregation and discrimination policy instituted by White minority against Black majority • 1948-1994 • Segregation affected: • Transportation (trains, buses) • Residential areas (“homelands” vs white-only) • Hospitals and ambulances • Public beaches, taxis, cinemas • Churches

  25. Truth and Reconciliation Commission • Set up in 1995 by black-majority government of President Nelson Mandela • Law: Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, No 34 of 1995 • Task: "the investigation and the establishment of as complete a picture as possible of the nature, causes and extent of gross violations of human rights committed during the period from 1 March 1960  to Dec 5, 1993” • Format: 17 members

  26. The work of TRC • April 1996: first victims’ hearings • Sept. 1997: deadline for amnesty applications • July 1998: TRC ends its hearings, continues to process amnesty applications • Oct. 1998: final report completed (handed over to Mandela in Oct. 1999, publicly released 2003)

  27. Committees • Commission worked in 3 committees: • Committee on Human Rights Violations • Investigates abuses and prepares report on “gross violations of human rights” (killing, abduction, torture or severe ill-treatment) • Committee on Reparation and Rehabilitation • Victims seek compensation • Committee on Amnesty • Considers applications for and gives amnesties for acts associated with a political objective • 5 members including 3 judges, one most sympathetic to security forces • act must be political, applicant must make full confession)

  28. Desmond Tutu • Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, born 1931 • Chair of TRC - "however painful the experience has been, we remain convinced that there can be no healing without truth.“ • 1984 Nobel Prize winner

  29. TRC Final Report • 3,000 pages, 5 volumes • 37,000 gross human rights violations with 28,750 named victims • Implicated former presidents FW de Klerk and PW Botta, but also Inkata Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi (IFP named as main non-state violator of human rights during apartheid era)

  30. Lessons Learned • Results of commissions • Naming perpetrators • Healing from the past • Court vs. commission

  31. Results of commissions • Lifting amnesty for junta members (Argentina) • Granting amnesties (South Africa – TRC) • Prosecution and court cases (Argentina, Trial of the Juntas) • Reparations program (Chile) • Reform of police, army, judiciary (El Salvador) • Acknowledgement of past atrocities – truth • Removal of perpetrators from public jobs, army, secret police (lustration)

  32. Naming Perpetrators • No: by naming individuals, truth commissions (which are not courts of law) violate due process because they do not allow those named the right to appeal • Guatemala • Yes: telling the truth is incomplete unless names of known perpetrators are released to the public • El Salvador, Chad (plus photos), South African TRC

  33. Factors affecting decision to name • Political pressure on the commission • Security concerns (threat for commission, revenge against those named) • Doubts about accuracy of conclusions • Concerns about due process (those named are popularly seen as guilty) • Weak judiciary, impossibility to convict perpetrators (El Salvador)

  34. Healing from the past • The need to tell one’s story • A sense of relief • Trauma: relieving the past, retraumatization, secondary traumatization of commission staff and journalists • Reconciliation: and to violence, acknowledgement and reparation, reforms

  35. Court vs. Commission • Court of law: • beyond reasonable doubt • Info corroborated from many sources • Commission: • balance of probabilities • Info obtained from 1 “credible” source (South Africa TRC), two independent sources (El Salvador)

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