Truth Commissions Digital Collection
Selected Commissions of Inquiry and Related Bodies
| Bolivia | Brazil | Burundi | Côte d'Ivoire | East Timor | Ethiopia | Honduras | Paraguay | Peru | Rwanda | South Africa | Uganda |
Bolivia
Religious groups, trade and labor unions, the San Simon de la Paz University, human rights advocates and citizens formed a committee that investigated abuses of power by General Garcia Meza and advocated, in the mid-1980s with the Congress and the Supreme Court respectively, bringing him and his accomplices to account for their actions. In 1993, after a six-year trial, General Garcia Meza was sentenced in absentia to 30 years in prison.
Sources: Priscilla B. Hayner, "Fifteen Truth Commissions–1974 to 1994: A Comparative Study," Human Rights Quarterly, v. 16, no. 4, November 1994, pp. 597-655; Esteban Cuya, " Las Comisiones de la Verdad en America Latina. " http://www.derechos.org/koaga/iii/1/cuya.html (March 1, 1999).
Brazil
A team of 35 investigators sponsored by Cardinal Paulo Evaristo Arns, archbishop of Sao Paulo, with the support of the World Council of Churches, published its findings on human rights abuses based on testimonies of political prisoners and court proceedings of military trials between 1964 and 1979. The Portuguese edition of Brazil, Nunca Mais, and its English language version Torture in Brazil, is an account of the use of torture during 21 years of military rule in that country.
Sources: AP Worldstream 08/10/1995; Los Angeles Times 09/21/1986.
Burundi
In 1995, following fact-finding missions to Burundi sponsored by the United Nations, the UN Security Council called for the creation of an international commission of inquiry to investigate the assassination of President Melchior Ndadaye on October 21, 1993 and subsequent violent acts in which some 50,000 civilians lost their lives. The August 28, 1995 resolution described the deaths as "genocide," requesting that the commission recommend legal, political and administrative measures to bring to justice those responsible for these acts, prevent any repetition of past violence, eliminate impunity and promote reconciliation in Burundi. Members of the commission appointed by the UN Secretary-General were Abdelali El Moumni of Morocco, Mehmet Guney of Turkey, Luis Herrera Marcano of Venezuela, Michel Maurice of Canada, and Edilbert Razafindralambo of Madagascar. The commission's findings were released in an August 1996 report.
Sources:Inter Press Service 8/26/1995; Xinhua News Agency 9/15/1995; S/RES/1012 (1995); Hayner, Priscilla, Unspeakable Truths: Confronting State Terror and Atrocity, New York, Routledge, 2001.
Côte d'Ivoire
President Laurent Gbagbo inaugurated the country's Mediation Committee for National Reconciliation on November 20, 2000. The committee's mandate is to investigate post-electoral violence in Abidjan that claimed the lives of 171 citizens during October 24-26, 2000. Côte d'Ivoire's ombudsman Mathieu Ekra was appointed to lead the committee comprised of 28 politicians, military officers, religious leaders and representatives from civil society. The deaths occurred after the former military ruler, General Robert Guei, claimed victory in presidential elections held on October 22, 2000.
Sources: Africa News 11/20/2000; Abidjan Notre Voie 11/21/2000.
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East Timor
In October 1999, Indonesia's National Human Rights Commission (KOMNASHAM) created the Commission for Human Rights Violations in East Timor to investigate reports of atrocities in East Timor between January and October 1999. On January 31, 2000, the commission's report charged Indonesia's then-security minister and former army chief General Wiranto and other military and civilian officers with responsibility for human rights violations and destruction in East Timor after a pro-independence vote by a majority of East Timorese on August 30, 1999. The report recommends further investigations by Indonesia's attorney general; prosecution of those charged with human rights abuses; protection, rehabilitation and compensation for victims; re-definition of the roleof the military; and return of displaced East Timorese.
Sources: New York Times 10/10/1999; Washington Post 2/1/2000; Antara 1/31/2000; KOMNASHAM Executive Summary, 1/31/2000, http://www.easttimor.com/archives/1465.htm (February 14, 2000).
Reports of atrocities committed by pro-Indonesian militias following a majority vote for East Timor's independence from Indonesia in August 1999 led to the establishment of a UN-sponsored International Commission of Inquiry on East Timor in October 1999. The commission's mandate was to "gather and compile systematically information on possible violations of human rights and acts which might constitute breaches of international humanitarian law committed in East Timor" since January 1999.
In their January 2000 report, the commissioners affirmed that there had been "gross violations of human rights and breaches of humanitarian law," and that the Indonesian army and related militias had been involved in the violations. Moreover, the report called for the rapid return of displaced East Timorese, the demobilization and disarmament of irregular forces, further investigation of the violations and prosecution of those responsible, reparations for victims, and the establishment of an international human rights tribunal for East Timor.
Members of the commission were: Chairperson Sonia Picado Sotela, Costa Rican jurist and legislator, who had served on the Inter-American human rights court; Judith Sefi Attah, a former Nigerian cabinet minister for women's affairs; former Indian chief justice A.M. Ahmadi; Mari Kapa, deputy chief justice of Papua New Guinea; and German parliamentarian and former justice minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger.
Sources: Press release, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 10/15/1999; AFP 12/3/1999.
Ethiopia
In 1992, the Transitional Government of Ethiopia established a Special Prosecutor’s Office to research and report on human rights violations and other abuses of power during the 17-year rule of President Mengistu Haile-Mariam, and to bring those responsible for such crimes to justice.
Sources: Priscilla B. Hayner, "Fifteen Truth Commissions–1974 to 1994: A Comparative Study," Human Rights Quarterly, v. 16, no. 4, November 1994, pp. 597-655.
Honduras
In late December of 1993, Leo Valladares, Commissioner for the Protection of Human Rights, delivered to then-President Rafael Callejas and president-elect Carlos Roberto Reina, a report on 179 disappearances carried out by Honduran military and security forces between 1979 and 1990 . The report is entitled "Los Hechos Hablan por Si Mismos." Its English language version was published by the Human Rights Watch/Americas and the Center for Justice and International Law in 1994.
Sources: Associated Press 12/29/93.
Paraguay
From its establishment in 1976, the Comite de Iglesias para Ayuda de Emergencia (CIPAE), with the support of the World Council of Churches, has documented human rights violations in Paraguay during the 1954-1989 military rule of Alfredo Stroessner. The result of its effort was published beginning in 1990 in four volumes under the title of Paraguay Nunca Mas.
Sources: Esteban Cuya, "Las Comisiones de la Verdad en America Latina". http://www.derechos.org/koaga/iii/1/cuya.html (March 1, 1999).
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Peru
A commission was set up by then-President Fernando Belaunde Terry to investigate the killing of eight journalists and one peasant guide on January 26, 1983 in Uchuraccay, Peru. The three members of the commission were writer Mario Vargas Llosa, journalist Mario Castro Arenas and lawyer Abraham Guzman Figueroa. The commission’s findings were released on March 4, 1983.
Thirteen Peruvian legislators made up a congressional commission of inquiry into the killing of over 250 political prisoners on June 18 and 19, 1986, following the takeover of two prisons. The commission issued a majority and a minority report two years later. Commission members were commission president Rolando Ames Cobian, Jorge del Prado, Javier Bedoya de Vivanco, Oscar Felipe Ventura, Agustin Haya de la Torre, Aureo Zegarra, Romualdo Biaggi Rodriguez, Judith de la Mata, Cesar Delgado Barreto, Miguel Angel Mufarech, Humberto Arenas, Nicanor Asmat Vega, and Jose Barba Caballero.
Sources: Esteban Cuya, " Las Comisiones de la Verdad en America Latina. " http://www.derechos.org/koaga/iii/1/cuya.html (March 1, 1999).
Rwanda
In late 1992, four non-governmental organizations: the International Federation of Human Rights, Africa Watch, the Inter African Union for Human Rights and the Rights of Peoples, and the International Center for the Rights of the Individual and the Development of Democracy, created the International Commission of Investigation on Human Rights Violations in Rwanda Since October 1, 1990. The commission had ten members from eight different countries. The commission reported its findings in March 1993 based on investigations of civilian deaths during Rwanda’s civil war beginning in October 1990. Africa Watch distributed the commission's final report.
Sources: Inter Press Service 3/8/93, Reuter Library Report, 3/8/93; Priscilla B. Hayner, "Fifteen Truth Commissions–1974 to 1994: A Comparative Study," Human Rights Quarterly, v. 16, no. 4, November 1994, pp. 597-655.
South Africa
The Commission of Enquiry into Certain Allegations of Cruelty and Human Rights Abuses Against ANC Prisoners and Detainees by ANC Members was established in January 1993 to investigate abuses in detention camps of the African National Congress (ANC) in Angola, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The body’s report was issued on August 23, 1993. Retired businessman Sam Motsuenyane chaired the commission. Additional commissioners were U.S. lawyer Margaret Burnham and a Zimbabwean judge.
Earlier, in March 1992, a commission to research and report on violations of human rights in ANC detention camps in Southern Africa had been created. Two of the three commissioners on the Commission of Enquiry into Complaints by Former African National Congress Prisoners and Detainees were members of the ANC. The commission completed its report seven months after its creation. The report was made public immediately.
Sources: Christian Science Monitor, 8/25/93; The Daily Telegraph, 8/24/93; Washington Post, 8/23/93; Reuters World Service, 4/15/96; Priscilla B. Hayner, "Fifteen Truth Commissions–1974 to 1994: A Comparative Study," Human Rights Quarterly, v. 16, no. 4, November 1994, pp. 597-655.
Uganda
In June 1974, then-President Idi Amin Dada created the Commission of Inquiry into Disappearances of People in Uganda Since the 25th of January, 1971. Its mandate was to investigate and report on the disappearances in the first years of the Amin government. The report documented 308 cases of disappearances, but was never published by the government.
Sources: Priscilla B. Hayner, "Fifteen Truth Commissions–1974
to 1994: A Comparative Study," Human Rights Quarterly, v. 16,
no. 4, November 1994, pp. 597-655.
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These pages are developed in collaboration with the Institute's Rule of Law Program.
Updated: January 14 2004
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