Introduction

It is common today for countries emerging from periods of conflict or repression to consider the possibility of establishing a truth commission. In such contexts the near impossibility of mounting prosecutions on a large scale makes consideration of such commissions almost inevitable. It is for this and other reasons that truth commissions form an integral part of the broader topic of transitional justice, which is the focus of the first part of this chapter.

Despite the apparent popularity of truth commissions, their nature often remains obscure to lawmakers and laypersons alike. There is, for example, a continuing tendency to assume that all truth commissions look and function like the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The second part of this chapter will address such fallacies, provide a definition of truth commissions, and canvass the actual diversity of truth commission models.

Since truth commissions are but one form of human rights investigation, and not always the most appropriate one, it is important to understand what distinguishes them from other forms of national and international human rights investigation. To that end, the third part of this chapter will posit a taxonomy of human rights investigation and attempt to situate truth commissions within it.

The chapter will conclude by distinguishing truth commissions from courts. Truth commissions, at times seen as substitutes for criminal justice, naturally elicit controversy.