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77-469: However, the system has come under criticism from a number of sources, including the Survivors Fund , which represents survivors of the genocide, due to the danger that it poses to survivors and there have been a number of reports on survivors being targeted for giving evidence at the courts. Scholars have shown how the courts became a critical mechanism for establishing the government's official narrative on

154-854: A truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission , is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state actors also), in the hope of resolving conflict left over from the past. Truth commissions are, under various names, occasionally set up by states emerging from periods of internal unrest, civil war , or dictatorship marked by human rights abuses. In both their truth-seeking and reconciling functions, truth commissions have political implications: they "constantly make choices when they define such basic objectives as truth, reconciliation, justice, memory, reparation, and recognition, and decide how these objectives should be met and whose needs should be served". According to one widely cited definition: The term used in

231-420: A crucial aspect of most commissions. In some cases, peace agreements or the terms of transfers of power prevent court prosecutions and allow impunity for former rulers accused of human rights violations or even crimes against humanity , and truth commissions appear as the major alternative. In other cases, governments see the opportunity to unite divided societies and offer truth and reconciliation commissions as

308-574: A dead body 2. Those who committed attacks in order to kill but without attaining this goal 2. Rapists 2. Torturers 3. Persons who committed dehumanizing acts on a dead body 2. Those who committed attacks in order to kill but without attaining this goal Confession: temporary loss of a listed number of civil rights Confession: temporary loss of a listed number of civil rights The approximate number of people who were to be tried in these three categories: Category 1: 77,269 Category 2: 432,557 Category 3: 308,739 The spontaneous emergence of

385-505: A large number of trials were not well-founded. Also because the trials are based on witnesses' testimonies, the length of time between the crime and trial heightens the risk that the witnesses' memories will be unreliable. The government's decision to exclude crimes committed by soldiers of the current ruling party, the RPF, from Gacaca courts' jurisdiction has left victims of their crimes still waiting for justice, Human Rights Watch said. Soldiers of

462-594: A need to provide support to survivors to afford Mutuelle de Sante (public health insurance). Education Survivors have benefited from access to schooling since the establishment of the Government Assistance Fund for Vulnerable Genocide Survivors (FARG) in 1998. Over 100,000 survivors completed secondary school with support from FARG, of which a further 33,000 survivors have been funded to complete higher education. However, second-generation survivors (in particular children born to women survivors raped during

539-564: A nine-person council. During the Gacaca process, there were two phases which took place. Starting between 2005 and 2006, information was taken from those who were accused from all Gacaca cells. The approximate number of those who were accused was 850,000 with about 50,000 of those being deceased. The categorization of crimes committed by these 850,000 is as follows: 2. Persons who occupied positions of leadership 3. Well-known murderers 4. Torturers 5. Rapists 6. Persons who committed dehumanizing acts on

616-493: A pioneering role in the establishment of a credible international criminal justice system and is the first ever international tribunal to deliver verdicts in relation to genocide, and the first to interpret the definition of genocide set forth in the 1948 Geneva Conventions. It also is the first international tribunal to define rape in international criminal law and to recognise rape as a means of perpetrating genocide. The ICTR delivered its last trial judgement on 20 December 2012 in

693-526: A symposium was held by the Healing Foundation and Reconciliation Australia to share knowledge about the importance of truth telling, examine what truths need to be told in Australia, look at different truth-telling practices that might be applicable to Australia, and work on some guiding principles for future truth-telling processes. The symposium was attended by 60 experts, leaders and key stakeholders in

770-531: A victim of crimes by soldiers of the current ruling party. Though Gacaca was claimed to contribute to reconciliation by the Rwandan government it functioned fundamentally as a punitive form of justice which many scholars have characterized as retributive in focus rather than reconciliatory in nature. Punishments ranged from forced labor in public works projects (TIG) to life in prison without family visits ("special measures"). Despite its claimed restorative nature, Gacaca

847-511: A whole. With this implementation and usage of western legal systems, Rwandans began to go to courts to deal with their disputes. In turn, kings and wisemen soon began to lose their legitimacy within Rwandan society. And with this loss of legitimacy, Gacaca courts began to dwindle down in numbers. After the conclusion of the genocide against the Tutsi, the new Rwandan government was having difficulty prosecuting approximately 130,000 alleged perpetrators of

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924-517: Is a difficult reality faced by all survivors in Rwanda. There is an estimated 300,000 survivors in Rwanda, of which 120,000 are considered by the Rwandan Ministry of Affairs to be very vulnerable and 35% suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD. Besides support given to survivors through SURF over the last 25 years, the only other sustainable and significant funding for survivors has come from

1001-511: Is a legal process and with this in mind punishment constitutes a major element of the Gacaca courts. According to official Rwandan government records the courts had a conviction rate of 86% and tried over a million suspects. Survivors Fund Survivors Fund (SURF), founded in 1997, represents and supports survivors of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda ( Rwandan genocide ) in Rwanda . It

1078-453: Is an ongoing concern, as many must live side-by-side with men who raped them and killed their families, as the perpetrators of the genocide are being released back into the community. The country no longer has the resource to continue to keep these men incarcerated, and so by admitting guilt at local gacaca (community-based) trials they are now free. The insecurity of survivors is fuelled by intimidation, harassment, death threats and killings by

1155-510: Is referred to as Gacaca. The name Gacaca is derived from the Kinyarwanda word umucaca meaning “a plant so soft to sit on that people prefer to gather on it”. Originally, Gacaca gatherings were meant to restore order and harmony within communities by acknowledging wrongs and having justice restored to those who were victims. However, with the colonization of Rwanda and the arrival of western systems of law, Rwandan society soon began to change as

1232-492: Is sometimes praised for offering a path to reconciliation, and sometimes criticised by main stake holders (victim associations, relatives of the disappeared, ex-perpetrators) for promoting impunity and further traumatising victims. On some occasions, truth commissions have been criticized for narrow mandates or lack of implementation after their reports. Examples include Chad's Commission of Inquiry into Crimes and Misappropriations committed by former president Hissene Habre and

1309-520: Is the principal international charity with a specific remit to assist survivors of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, and has offices in London and Kigali . It is registered with the Charity Commission for England & Wales. The charity supports projects for survivors in Rwanda in fields including education, healthcare, shelter, justice and memory. Campaigns have included raising awareness of

1386-428: Is vast evidence of corruption among officials. "You have to give money. Gacaca judges are not paid so they make arrangements to get money from those who are accused," said a man accused of genocide who said he had paid a bribe to Gacaca judges. The lack of legal representation is, in the majority, a result of the genocide itself wherein the vast majority of people of such professions were casualties. This brings, perhaps,

1463-704: The Australian context of reconciliation with its Indigenous peoples is truth telling . As bodies mandated by governments, truth commissions constitute a form of "official truth-seeking ". Thus they can provide proof against denialism of state terrorism and other crimes and human rights abuses. Increasingly, supporters assert a " right to the truth " that commissions are well placed to carry forward. Truth commissions are sometimes criticised for allowing crimes to go unpunished, and creating impunity for serious human rights abusers. Their roles and abilities in this respect depend on their mandates, which vary widely. One of

1540-505: The Norwegian parliament commissioned The Norwegian Truth and Reconciliation Commission to lay the foundation for recognition of the experiences of the Sámi . Sweden has faced criticism for its Swedification policies, which began in the 1800s and lasted until the 1970s. In 2020, Sweden funded the establishment of an independent truth commission to examine and document past abuse of the Sámi by

1617-532: The Philippines Truth Commission which has been criticized as selective justice. A short-lived Commission of Truth and Reconciliation in Yugoslavia never reported as the country that created it ceased to exist. In others, such as Rwanda , it has been impossible to carry out commission recommendations due to a return to conflict. The first truth commissions did not use the name, but aimed to unearth

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1694-470: The child protection and criminal justice systems in Victoria, including raising the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14 years of age. Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission focused on the legacies of Canadian Indian residential schools and Indigenous-settler relations. Canada had sanctioned a program that allowed the kidnapping of native children in order to assimilate them. The commission

1771-440: The collective psyche , which then complicates efforts at genuine reconciliation. Furthermore, Nsabimana points out that the official narrative promoted by Gacaca often oversimplifies the complex identities and histories of individuals, grouping them into broad categories of 'victim' and 'perpetrator,' which does not necessarily reflect their lived realities and personal histories. Within 17th century Rwanda, prior to colonization,

1848-708: The 100 days of genocide in 1994. Many Rwandans not aligned with the government say it became a way of disseminating "lies," distorting the history about what happened in 1994. Scholars have shown that it became a means of silencing alternative narratives amongst the Rwandan population and effectively worked as a form of "show trial". Other scholars say it helped some families find murdered relatives’ bodies which they could finally bury with some dignity. It has also ensured that tens of thousands of perpetrators were brought to justice. Some Rwandans say that it has helped set in motion reconciliation within their communities. The majority of praise for Gacaca has come from Rwanda's government and

1925-718: The Disappearances of People in Uganda since 25 January 1971. The first such commission to be effective was Argentina's National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons , created by President of Argentina Raúl Alfonsín on 15 December 1983. It issued the Nunca Más (Never Again) report, which documented human rights violations under the military dictatorship known as the National Reorganization Process . The report

2002-414: The Gacaca activities and the gradual support for Gacaca by the authorities was clearly motivated by the fact that the ordinary justice system was virtually non-existent after the genocide. The Gacaca had to do what it did before—relieve the pressure on the ordinary courts. These were now not working slowly, as they did before, but not working at all. Once they started to work, they were quickly overloaded with

2079-409: The Gacaca process and now many more accusations are surfacing. Also, the concession program, which requires the naming of all those who participated along with the accused [in return for a lighter sentence], has led to a multiplication of names. "How many of these are well-founded, what is the credibility of the evidence, these are very serious concerns." There are criticisms and controversy surrounding

2156-522: The ICTR will fulfil its mandate of bringing justice to the victims of the Genocide and, in the process, hopes to deter others from committing similar atrocities in the future. Rwanda's experiment in mass community-based justice has been a mixed success. Rwandans are deeply divided on the benefits of Gacaca. Rwandan government supporters (including both foreign academics and local Rwandans) claim that it has shed light on what happened in their local communities during

2233-458: The ICTR's residual functions on 1 July 2012. The ICTR's formal closure is scheduled to coincide with the return of the Appeals Chamber's judgement in its last appeal. Until the return of that judgement in 2015, the ICTR will continue its efforts to end impunity for those responsible for the Genocide through a combination of judicial, outreach, and capacity-building efforts. Through these efforts,

2310-736: The Ngirabatware case. Following this milestone, the Tribunal's remaining judicial work now rests solely with the Appeals Chamber. As of October 2014, only one case comprising six separate appeals is pending before the ICTR Appeals Chamber. One additional appeal from ICTR trial judgement was delivered in December 2014 in the Ngirabatware case by the appeals chamber of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, which started assuming responsibility for

2387-551: The RPF, which ended the genocide in July 1994 and went on to form the current government, killed tens of thousands of people between April and December 1994. In 2004, the Gacaca law was amended to exclude such crimes, and the government worked to ensure that these crimes were not discussed in Gacaca. "One of the serious shortcomings of gacaca has been its failure to provide justice to all victims of serious crimes committed in 1994", Bekele said. "By removing RPF crimes from their jurisdiction,

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2464-790: The Rwandan Government, which channels supports to vulnerable survivors through the Government of Rwanda Social Security Board. SURF collaborates closely with key partners such as IBUKA (National Umbrella of Survivors’ Organisations), AVEGA (Association of Widows of the Genocide), AERG (National Student's Association of Genocide Survivors), GAERG (National Survivor's Association of Graduate Students), Uyisenga N'Manzi (Organization of Child Survivors with HIV/AIDS), and Solace Ministries (Christian Survivors Support Organization). Truth and reconciliation commission A truth commission , also known as

2541-405: The Rwandan citizens who have direct experience with the system. Naturally this is a biased source, however it is important to note that it is those most affected by the Rwandan genocide who are offering praise, citing a sense of closure, acceptance, and forgiveness following Gacaca trials. The Gacaca trials also served to promote reconciliation by providing a means for victims to learn the truth about

2618-484: The aftermath of colonialism . The term used in Australia is "truth telling", and calls for a truth-telling commission about past injustices have been made over a long period into the 21st century. The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation discussed the topic in a 2000 report which followed a nine-year process of community consultation about how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous Australians could move forward together. The Referendum Council , which

2695-413: The bench [of judges] in terms of making its determination, so you no longer have a level playing field." There may, however, be no alternative to the Gacaca trials, she added. "Obviously the problem of delivering justice after the genocide is an overwhelming problem. Gacaca may not be ideal but there is at this point no alternative.... The official explanation I think is that people did not speak openly until

2772-407: The biggest issue of Gacaca: the lack of legal representation. Gacaca functions using "people of integrity" as judges, lawyers, and the jury. Not only are some of these people perpetrators themselves, but the lack of financial compensation for the position and the lack of training make them susceptible to bribery and to leading unfair trials. Senior Human Rights Watch adviser Alison Des Forges said

2849-553: The cases of genocide suspects who were filling the prisons. This new form of justice was bold, but not unprecedented: This becomes evident when one considers the emerging numbers of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (TRC) as, for example, that in South Africa. The slogan of the South African TRC “Revealing is Healing” and its argument that truth-telling serves as a “therapeutic function” underlies this assumption. The TRC format

2926-431: The consequences of genocide, and general ill health. Many of the needy have no skills to acquire jobs. Even those in employment cannot afford to build a house because building materials are too costly or they find it increasingly difficult to find the resources to build houses of their own, to buy or to rent. Without shelter security and rehabilitation becomes impossible. Justice Personal security for survivors in Rwanda

3003-433: The continuing campaign to release prisoners. Memory Nearly thirty years after genocide in Rwanda, the remains of many victims of genocide are still to be buried. Many of them still lie in trenches, abandoned latrines, churches, on the hills and many other places - some known, some yet to be discovered. Many of these locations are revealed by genocide suspects currently held in prisons that have confessed to involvement in

3080-466: The country's return to democracy, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established in April 1990. It was the first to use the name and most truth commissions since then have used a variation on the title. Other early commissions were established in diverse locations including Nepal (1990), El Salvador (1992), Guatemala (1994), and Ireland (1994). South Africa's truth and reconciliation commission

3157-473: The creation of a truth and justice commission, to "formally recognise historical wrongs and ongoing injustices". The Yoorrook Justice Commission aims to establish an official public record of the experience of Aboriginal Victorians since the start of British colonisation in Victoria . Its findings will include recommendations for reform and redress, and will inform Victoria's treaty negotiations. In September 2023 Yoorrook proposed 46 recommendations to improve

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3234-671: The dead and to support the survivors. This formative experience inspired her to set up Survivors Fund (SURF) on her return to the UK to ensure that survivors received aid, assistance and support, and that their voices would be heard by people around the world. Her work has meant that she has received numerous awards such as the Pilkington Award by the Women of the Year Lunch & Assembly and appointment as an OBE . Survivors Fund (SURF) works to address

3311-445: The death of their family members and relatives. They also gave perpetrators the opportunity to confess their crimes, show remorse and ask for forgiveness in front of their community. In addition to success on a more personal level, the enormity of the operation speaks measures: More than 12,000 community-based courts tried more than 1.2 million cases throughout the country. The casual format of Gacaca has led to many legal criticisms of

3388-417: The decision to implement Gacaca courts. Human rights groups worry about the fairness since trials are held without lawyers which means that there is less protection for defendants than in conventional courts. In addition conventional trials have seen false accusations and intimidation of witnesses on both sides; issues of revenge have been raised as a concern. The acquittal rate has been 20 percent which suggests

3465-547: The difficult issues that has arisen over the role of truth commissions in transitional societies, has centered on what should be the relationship between truth commissions and criminal prosecutions. While it is generally assumed that truth and reconciliation commissions could investigate on a larger number of crimes, they are less effective in pursuing criminal punishment. This leads to the idea that truth and reconciliation commissions are effective to heal large societal conflicts, but they should also be matched with criminal trials for

3542-466: The extended lineage or family (umuryango), which encompassed several households (inzu), was the main unit of social organization within Rwandan society. The status of people within families was based upon the age and sex of the person. Only aged married men, without living parents, were independent while all others, especially women, were dependent upon what the men dictated. The family lineage controlled arranged marriages, ancestral traditions and ceremonies,

3619-539: The field. In July 2019, Minister for Indigenous Australians Wyatt gave an address to the National Press Club , in which he spoke of the theme of NAIDOC Week 2019: "Voice. Treaty. Truth.". With regard to truth-telling , he said he would "work on approaches to work on how we progress towards truth-telling". In July 2020, the Victorian Government became the first government in Australia to commit to

3696-448: The first commission was constrained and new governments felt it had not carried out a full accounting for the past. It has become a model for other countries. Commissions have been widespread in the aftermath of conflict as components of peace agreements in Africa since the 1990. For example, Congo and Sierra Leone have used truth commissions. Chile's Commission for Truth and Reconciliation

3773-422: The first to mandate a truth and reconciliation commission, it has become a model for other countries. Commissions have been widespread in the aftermath of conflict as components of peace agreements in Africa since the 1990s. Following South Africa's truth and reconciliation commission, many more truth commissions have been created and continue to be created. These include repeat commissions in some countries where

3850-444: The format which include the following: no right to a lawyer, no right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, no right to be informed of charges being brought against you, no right to case/defense preparation time, no right to be present at one's own trial, no right to confront witnesses, no right against self incrimination , no right against double jeopardy , no right against arbitrary arrest and detention , and furthermore, there

3927-568: The genocide (through gacaca). Alongside the burial programme, a programme has undertaken with the USC Shoah Foundation Institute to record the testimonies of survivors. Nearly thirty years after the genocide , Rwanda has made significant progress in rebuilding internally, but the many scars remain fresh. The legacy of genocide touches almost every aspect of life for the survivors. In addition to recurring psychological trauma suffered by many from their experiences, survivors of

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4004-410: The genocide face multiple difficulties. Many are impoverished and face complex health problems, such as HIV and AIDS , as a direct result of the violence perpetrated against them during the genocide. Survivors are still threatened with violence, attacked or killed by former perpetrators, and for many a climate of fear persists. Rebuilding their lives alongside individuals responsible for murder and rape

4081-637: The genocide) did not benefit from FARG support and have required additional support to secure the same educational opportunities afforded to survivors. There is a particular need for more vocational training to enable school graduates to transition into employment. Housing There are still many vulnerable survivors who have no accommodation or a decent place to sleep, often having to live a transitory life, moving from place to place to seek shelter, with an estimated 2,100 houses in need of urgent renovation nationwide. This results in high anxiety and hopelessness. Most of these families are very poor; left to deal with

4158-570: The genocide, recognizing only Tutsi as victims and Hutu as perpetrators. Natacha Nsabimana, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago describes how the Gacaca system reinforced a temporal and social framework she termed 'genocide-time,' where "genocidal violence in the past is recounted and made agentive in the present through social interactions and choices made by political subjects in their social-political landscape." She contends this perception influences daily interactions and

4235-506: The genocide. Originally, perpetrators of the genocide were to be tried in the ICTR (International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda); however, the vast number of perpetrators made it highly improbable that they would all be convicted. Given that there were insufficient resources to organise first-world courts, the Gacaca system had to be preferred over the only alternative to the Gacaca system for local communities which might have been revenge. To deal with this problem, Gacaca courts were installed,

4312-472: The goal of which was to: The categorization of Gacaca courts in Rwanda is based on the concept of a cell and a sector. A cell is equivalent to a small community while a sector is equivalent to a small group of cells making up a village. Within these two categories, there were 9013 cells and 1545 sectors, with over 12,103 Gacaca courts established nationwide. Presiding over the Gacaca meetings are judges known as inyangamugayo . These judges are elected to serve on

4389-404: The government limited the potential of the gacaca courts to foster long-term reconciliation in Rwanda." "The biggest problem with gacaca is the crimes we can't discuss. We're told that certain crimes, those killings by the RPF, cannot be discussed in gacaca even though the families need to talk. We're told to be quiet on these matters. It's a big problem. It's not justice," said a relative of

4466-451: The hybrid truth commission hoped it would heal the wounds of the past, give dignity to victims, and permit the emergence of a post-apartheid "rainbow nation" led by Nelson Mandela . To further heal the wounds, the commission recommended that there be a "wealth tax", which would punish those who gained from apartheid, but South Africa never followed through. South Africa has not formally inserted any reparation programs. With South Africa being

4543-411: The lack of legal representation was a serious concern. "The authorities' view is that this is a quasi-customary kind of procedure, and there never used to be lawyers, so there's no need for lawyers now. The problem with that is that little is the same except for the name. In this system, there is considerable weight given to the official side. The office of the prosecutor provides considerable assistance to

4620-403: The numerous challenges still faced by survivors of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, including: Healthcare Survivors still suffer from genocide related physical injuries, mental health illnesses and HIV and AIDS which require specialist care. Many survivors were infected with HIV and AIDS during the genocide, and still require support to access antiretroviral treatment. There is also

4697-713: The past, and the Truth and Justice Commission in Mauritius which focused on the legacy of slavery and indentured servitude over a long colonial period. The Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor also aimed to tell a new "national narrative" to replace the version of history that had been prevalent under foreign rule. Within the scope of transitional justice , truth commissions tend to lean towards restorative rather than retributive justice models. This means they often favour efforts to reconcile divided societies in

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4774-435: The payment or retrieval of debts, and was the primary source of security for people. Ruling over these lineages were kings ( mwami ). Within Rwanda, kings ruled over many different sections of Rwanda. The king, within Rwandan society, embodied power, justice, and knowledge and was the mediator of any major dispute within their region. However, before disputes were brought to the kings, they were heard locally by wise men as what

4851-598: The report. Recommendation 3 was: "The Committee recommends that the Australian Government support the process of truth-telling. This could include the involvement of local organisations and communities, libraries, historical societies and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander associations. Some national coordination may be required, not to determine outcomes but to provide incentive and vision. These projects should include both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and descendants of local settlers". In October 2018

4928-582: The territory of Rwanda and neighbour States, between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1994". The Tribunal is located in Arusha, Tanzania, and has offices in Kigali, Rwanda. Its Appeals Chamber is located in The Hague, Netherlands. Since it opened in 1995, the Tribunal has indicted 93 individuals whom it considered responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in Rwanda in 1994. The ICTR has played

5005-467: The threat to survivors resulting from the release of prisoners through gacaca . Survivors Fund (SURF) was founded by Mary Kayitesi Blewitt, a British citizen of Rwandan origin, at the behest of survivors after losing 50 family members during the genocide in 1994. At the end of the genocide in July 1994, Blewitt volunteered for the Ministry of Rehabilitation in Rwanda, working for eight months helping to bury

5082-542: The top criminal offenders. In general, truth commissions issue final reports which seek to provide an authoritative narrative of past events, which sometimes challenges previously dominant versions of the past. Truth commissions emphasizing "historical clarification" include the Historical Clarification Commission in Guatemala with its focus on setting straight the former military government's version of

5159-573: The truth about human rights violations under military regimes, predominantly in Latin America . Bolivia established a National Commission of Inquiry Into Disappearances in 1982 based on bringing together disparate sectors of society after the end of military rule, but the commission never reported. An earlier and perhaps the first such commission occurred in Uganda in 1974, and was known as the Truth Commission: Commission of Inquiry into

5236-669: The truth and reconciliation commission, there were three committees and 17 commissioners in total. The three committees created were the Human Rights Violations, Amnesty, and the Rehabilitation and reparation committees. Approximately 7,000 individuals applied for amnesty, but only 10 percent received it. Those who violated human rights and followed the criteria did receive it. The criteria required individuals to not only fully admit to their crimes, but also to prove that their crimes were politically motivated. Those who supported

5313-682: The wake of conflict, or to reconcile societies with their own troubled pasts, over attempts to hold those accused of human rights violations accountable. Less commonly, truth commissions advocate forms of reparative justice , efforts to repair past damage and help victims of conflict or human rights violations to heal. This can take the form of reparations to victims, whether financial or otherwise; official apologies; commemorations or monuments to past human rights violations, or other forms. Reparations have been central, for instance, in Morocco's Equity and Reconciliation Commission . Reconciliation forms

5390-496: The way to reach that goal. Truth commissions formed part of peace settlements in El Salvador , Congo , Kenya , and others. Commissions often hold public hearings in which victims/survivors can share their stories and sometimes confront their former abusers. These processes sometimes include the hope of forgiveness for past crimes and the hope that society can thereby be healed and made whole again. The public reconciliation process

5467-829: Was delivered to Alfonsín on 20 September 1984 and opened the door to the Trial of the Juntas , the first major trial held for war crimes since the Nuremberg trials in Germany following World War II and the first to be conducted by a civilian court. Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni established the Commission of Inquiry into Violations of Human Rights (CIVHR) in 1986 to investigate human rights abuses under his predecessors Idi Amin and Milton Obote . The commission suffered from under-resourcing and did not deliver its report until 1994. In Chile, shortly after

5544-525: Was established in 2006 as part of the settlement of a class-action lawsuit in which nearly 4,600 residential school survivors had sued the federal government. In June 2015, the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission released a summary report of its findings, concluding that the school system amounted to cultural genocide . Estimates of the number of Indigenous children who died while attending these schools range from 3,200 to over 30,000. In 2018,

5621-480: Was established to consult with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples about their views on constitutional recognition, highlighted the importance of truth-telling in its 2017 final report. The Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples was appointed in March 2018, and presented its final report on 29 November 2018. There were four recommendations in

5698-525: Was followed by a Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture in 2003. Approximately 3,000 people died or went missing during the years of Augusto Pinochet 's rule. Pinochet's successor created the first commission in 1990. In Brazil, the National Truth Commission was proposed by the 3rd National Human Rights Program to investigate the crimes of the military dictatorship (1964–1985) and came into force in 2012. The Nepalese Truth Commission

5775-541: Was followed by a new commission in 2014; and there have been calls for a new truth commission to supplement the Panama Truth Commission established in 2000. In Scandinavia, Nordic countries have set up Sámi reconciliation commissions to investigate indigenous injustices. Germany has held two truth commissions on human rights violations in the former East Germany. Commissions have also started to operate with targeted mandates related to Indigenous peoples or

5852-502: Was formed in 1995, in the aftermath of apartheid , as a deal between the former white-minority regime and the African National Congress . Formal hearings began on 16 April 1996. The ANC's call for "truth" about the apartheid years combined with the ruling National Party 's demand for amnesty for many of the perpetrators of apartheid to create the hybrid "truth and reconciliation" commission led by Bishop Desmond Tutu . During

5929-654: Was suggested to the Rwandan government, but ultimately they chose to pursue mass justice through Gacaca; a system where their country had roots and familiarity. Another form of Rwandan justice which has worked alongside Gacaca is the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). The United Nations Security Council established the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to "prosecute persons responsible for genocide and other serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in

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