TRUTH COMMISSIONS: DISTRACTION TOOL OR KEY TO DEMOCRATIZATION AND RECONCILIATION?

Abstract

In the last 30 years, the concept of transitional justice has been experiencing greater use and popularity. Facing the problematic past is inevitable when a country's past is full of major and massive human rights violations, no matter whether they come from a repressive regime or a violent conflict. In this regard, one of the most widely used and at the same time, one of the most popular mechanisms of transitional justice are the truth commissions. Entering transitional justice practice modestly during the 80-s of XX - century, today the truth commissions represent one of the most popular mechanisms for dealing with problematic past. In the last 25 years, the world has witnessed the existence of more than 30 truth commissions. The experience with all of them shows us that every truth commission is unique in terms of its powers, mandate, and structure. However, regardless of the non-existence of a fixed model of a truth commission, for many authors, there is a consensus on their role in the process of facing the problematic past. The truth commissions, regardless of their structure, power and mandate, are a mechanism that investigates, establishes and publicly acknowledges the truth, assists in the moral condemnation of committed crimes, meets the needs of victims, assists in the reconciliation process and offers a platform for political and institutional reforms, which has a positive effect on the process of facing the problematic past. The subject of this paper will be an analysis of the functioning and significance of the truth commissions. The paper attempts to show that truth commissions are a mechanism that contributes to the process of facing the problematic past and affects democratic consolidation and reconciliation in one country. The main methods that are used are the method of analysis, the historical, normative, and political method. The overall conclusion is that the truth commissions are only one of the mechanisms of transitional justice from which one cannot expect to complete the whole process of facing the problematic past, but they constitute a mechanism which has great meaning on the road towards democratic consolidation and the process of reconciliation.