Whose truth?

Mark Freeman in New Internationalist on Truth Commissions.

Until the last few years TCs had a number of detractors, including in the human rights movement itself.

Reed Brody of Human Rights Watch argued that TCs often served as "substitutes for justice". That view assumed that there would be criminal trials instead. But in states emerging from massive trauma that's usually a practical impossibility. This may be due to lack of political will as in El Salvador, weak or corrupt systems of justice as in Haiti, or legal obstacles such as amnesty laws as in Ghana. The result is that truth commissions may be the closest approximation of justice possible at that moment.

There are other important ways that they can serve the public interest. They almost always make detailed recommendations for victim reparation and legal reform. Even when not promptly or fully implemented such recommendations can help focus the advocacy efforts of human rights and victims' organizations.