A truth commission or truth and reconciliation commission is a commission tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government, in the hope of resolving conflict left over from the past. They are, under various names, occasionally set up by states emerging from periods of internal unrest, civil war, or dictatorship. South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established by PresidentNelson Mandela after apartheid, is generally considered a model of Truth Commissions, rarely if ever achieved in other parts. As government reports, they can provide proof against historical revisionism of state terrorism and other crimes and human rights abuses. Truth commissions are sometimes criticised for allowing crimes to go unpunished, and creating impunity for serious human rights abusers.
Under the?Framework Act on Clearing up Past Incidents for Truth and Reconciliation?, the Commission?s purpose is to foster national legitimacy and reconcile the past for the sake of national unity by honoring those who participated in anti-Japanese movements and exposing the truth by investigating incidents regarding human rights abuses, violence, and massacres occurring since Japanese rule to the present time, specifically during the nation?s authoritarian regimes.
Kenneth Brady outlines a potential U.S. Truth and Reconciliation Commission in his movie The Time Is Now, and examines human rights abuses resulting from U.S. foreign policy actions taken over the last 40 years. http://www.thetimeisnowthemovie.com
Encyclopedia
top
