Truth and Reconciliation Commissions as a Mechanism to Embody Transitional Justice

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Abstract

To achieve the idea of ​​transitional justice during periods of political transition, a wide range of diverse strategies must be adopted to deal with the legacy of human rights violations in the past, analyzed and implemented in the practice, with the aim of creating a fairer and more democratic environment.

Several methods have emerged in the field of transitional justice to clarify the truth about past human rights violations, among them are "Truth Commissions", which are temporary bodies, usually working for a period of one or two years, and are officially endorsed or authorized by the State, and in some cases, by the armed opposition. These are non-judicial bodies that enjoy a kind of legal independence and often form in a phase of political transition, whether from war to peace or from authoritarian rule to democracy.