Dissemination of the Commissions’ Truth
It is clear that civil society can have a substantial effect in pushing along the reconciliation
process outlined by a truth commission report. Civil society and the truth can have an intimate,
reciprocal relationship of building each other’s legitimacy: once the official truth is out, civil
society can use this information to teach and organize people under the banner of truth and
towards the recommendations in the truth report. Using the official truth will empower civil
society, strengthen the organizations, and, in turn, further the campaign to implement the truth
commission’s recommendations for reconciliation. It is essential that the truth not only be
established by the truth commission, but that it reaches the people and civil society. Therefore,
distribution of the truth commission report and dissemination of the truth uncovered by the
commission can significantly affect the implementation — whether by the government or by civil
society — of the recommendations on which reconciliation hinges. Successful, wide
dissemination of the truth and of the commission’s report, will help the people learn about and
learn from them. It builds people’s sense of ownership of this truth. It makes them feel invested
in the vision of the recommendations. Wide distribution as well as targeted allocation is optimal
in order to execute broad education and guarantee that the centers. It is especially those public
90centers of assembly (community groups, human rights organizations, universities, houses of
worship, etc.) that must obtain first-hand access to this information and use it to promote the
rights of the citizens and beneficial change.
The CEH developed a public dissemination strategy for the truth it revealed in its report.
Forty-two thousand copies of the CEH’s recommendations and conclusions in Spanish and
English were distributed on the first day. In addition, the full text version was placed on the
internet immediately. Upon its publication, the final report was distributed in its entirety to the
press, universities, and libraries. 249 The following Sunday, major newspapers printed
supplements and important excerpts from the report. 25° A week after its presentation, the report
had its own permanent website site with its link publicized on other websites and in
newspapers. 251
Five months later in July, 1999, the first five complete volumes were published; the seven
supplemental annex volumes were published three months later in October. 252 Rather than use a
private sector publisher as did the South African TRC, the CEH used a public sector publisher,
UN Office of Project Services (UNOPS), which has widened and facilitated the circulation of the
report’s findings. 253 UNOPS has been very generous in facilitating the report’s educational
effect. It has given away tens of thousands of summary versions, donated hundreds of the
complete volumes of the report to schools, libraries, and NGOs, and funded, along with AAAS,
the making of a CD ROM copy of the entire Memoria del Silencio report. 254
Unfortunately, the Salvadoran Truth Commission did not have an elaborate plan of
distribution of its report like the Guatemalan CEH. National media coverage of the Truth
Commission and of the truth it established was very sparse due to strict censorship. News of the
Salvadoran truth commission was said to have reached many international sites better than it was
91reported inside the country. 255 Copies of the report were given immediately to both Parties of the
Peace accord and truth commission negotiations. The report itself was published in Spanish and
in English and was distributed very limitedly.
256
Access to the report was moderate — through
human rights organizations or public institutions. 257 The report is not required reading in their
schools, especially as history is not studied to any great degree in the Salvadoran school
system. 258 The Guatemalan school systems do not include their CEH report in the school
curriculum, either. This is one clear way that the State could, if it wanted to, emphasize truth and
orient children at an early age in the direction of reconciliation.