Truth Commissions as Agents of Reconciliation
Truthtelling is delicado (delicate), as the saying goes in
Guatemala, as it means making judgments about what is and what
is not important about the past and the future.
- Jennifer Schrimer34
Priscilla Hayner, author of Unspeakable Truths: Confronting State Terror and Atrocity,
supports the turn toward truth commissions as official bodies that facilitate safe, truth testimony
14and seek to unearth the truth lying silently under the terrible secrets of the past. As Audrey
Chapman and Patrick Ball clarify, “the importance of truth commissions might be described as
acknowledging the truth rather than finding the truth.” 35 Establishing an ample, genuine history
of the citizens of the country is an indispensable key to reconciliation. The people must first
understand fully from what painful memories the country needs to heal and with whom it needs
to reconcile.
Truth commissions are temporary, non-judicial investigatory bodies that are usually formed
during political transition or reform and after cessation of violent internal conflict. During such
periods of tenuous peace, uncertainty with how to deal with the past, and insecurity of the future,
truth commissions emerge as mechanisms to provide some clarity, direction, and goals. They
focus on the past, identifying patterns of abuse and human rights violations over a specific
segment of history. Commissioners sift through evidence and documents and gather personal
testimonies from different sides of the conflict and regions of the country. Truth commissions
delve thoroughly into the details of the tactics used, acts committed, detention center locations,
and perpetrator identities. They can investigate a wide range and large number of cases. They
discern overall patterns, institutional context, and general causes and consequences of
atrocities. 36 Truth commissions have no jurisdiction to officially judge and claim the guilt of
those identified as perpetrators and usually lack the power of subpoena. However, they look at
the broader responsibility of certain negative social and economic forces and at the root causes of
state political polarization and discrimination. They identify dangerous political, social, or
cultural patterns of exploitation, corruption, and violence. Finally, at the end of their term truth
commissions submit a report that reveals their findings and makes conclusions and
recommendations. The reality is that the commissions have the awesome responsibility writing
15or re-writing history. As Chapman and Ball explain, “the documentation and interpretation of
truth is more complex and ambiguous than many analysts and proponents of truth commissions
assume. Social, technical, and methodological constraints, as well as epistemological limitations
of what can be known, all affect a commission’s ability to produce an authoritative account.” 37
Sarkin highlights, “Even though there cannot be one final “objective truth” it is critical that the
version of ‘the truth’ arrived at by the commission embraces the experience of all.” 38
The idealism required and the intention to foster reconciliation is inherent in the truth
commissions. The principle components of reconciliation — truth, acknowledgement,
accountability, and justice — appear clearly below in what Priscilla Hayner outlines as the four
main purposes for all truth commissions:
(1) to clarify and acknowledge the truth;
(2) to contribute to justice and accountability;
(3) to outline institutional responsibility and recommended reforms; and
(4) to promote reconciliation and reduce tensions resulting from past violence. 39
The extent to which a truth commission is successful according to these objectives can depend
on certain aspects of the truth commission itself and on independent factors like national political
context, social climate, and international pressure. Truth commissions do not operate in a
vacuum and, therefore, they will inevitably face political limitations. However, considering the
legacy of impunity or corruption in the judicial systems of the majority of these countries, truth
commissions may have the most hope of any official reconciliation initiative to contribute to
individual and national reconciliation.
Truth-telling is both a personal and collective experience. It is an experience with both
individual and communal/national goals, challenges, pain, relief, and necessity. However, truth is
a demand made firstly for the benefit of the victims. 40 Victims, their families, and witnesses feel
a need, on the one hand, to tell and to be heard, but are afraid to be exposed.’” Truth
16commissions secure a safe space for truth-telling. As Bishop Biggar explains, “The discovery of
the truth also helps the victim to understand her suffering…and suffering that we can
comprehend is usually easier to bear.” 42 Truth-telling is a worthy tool of empowerment because
victims break out of their cage of silence. They challenge the fear that has kept them isolated
and finally talk out the pain. They can finally be true to themselves and express what they really
feel. As Jacques explains, power of truth-telling comes from breaking out of silence, isolation,
and shame imposed by those who have wounded them. 43
Truth-telling also has the very practical function of clarifying history. From witness and
victim testimonies come immense quantities of valuable details from the horrors that have
remained very vivid in their memories. With an abundant amount of stories, together they reveal
patterns, trends, and various statistical estimates dealing with the violence. They help the
country’s people and the international community better understand the nature of the conflict and
responsibilities for violence. Furthermore, these many stories together paint a grander historical
narrative that honors the memory of these long-silenced victims and survivors. Jacques quotes
from Paul Ricoeur’s Temps et recit (Time and Narrative), “There are crimes which must not be
forgotten, victims whose suffering cries out not so much to be avenged as to be told.” 44 Being
able to tell the truth does not mean that their pain and anxiety will vanish, but it does mean that
their stories do not go unnoticed; they become part of the shared, national memory.