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88 Int'l Rev. Red Cross 295 (2006)
Truth Commissions: A Schematic Overview

handle is hein.journals/intlrcs88 and id is 287 raw text is: Priscilla B. Hayner Priscilla B. Hayner is Director, International Policymakers Unit, at the International Center for Transitional Justice in New York Abstract Numerous truth commissions of different types are being created around the world. The purpose of this schematic overview is to study the variety and to sketch out the differences and similarities between the different truth commissions established since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa launched in 1995. Recent years have revealed a remarkable increase in the number and type of truth commissions being created around the world. Since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa launched in 1995, the idea of a non-judicial inquiry into past widespread abuses has caught the attention of a host of new governments and civil society groups in numerous countries. Truth commissions - official, temporary bodies established to investigate a pattern of violations over a period of time that conclude with a final report and recommendations for reforms - have been created in more than thirty countries in the past twenty-five to thirty years. Typically, these bodies are set up for a short period of time - one to three years on average - and may employ hundreds of staff to collect individual statements, organize public hearings and undertake case investigations and thematic research. Some have been given subpoena powers or the right to gain access to official offices and official documents without warning. Others have had to rely on the voluntary cooperation - not only of high-level officials but also of direct perpetrators, sometimes in return for promises of confidentiality. Truth commissions virtually always receive extensive, detailed information from victims, survivors and other witnesses, usually gathering many thousands of detailed statements. Some of these may also be presented in public hearings, thus allowing the public to engage in the process long before the final report is released. 295

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