Submissive to the Political Will? Civil Society Participation in Truth Commissions

Transformative justice proposes, among other measures, a focus on civil society participation in the design and implementation of transitional justice (TJ) mechanisms. A particularity of truth commission (TC) processes is that they allow for victims and civil society engagement and participation. Public participation can be linked to the three stages of a TC process. The first stage, the period leading to the setting up of a TC, would include the role of civil society in setting it up. During the time of operations, a TC interacts with victims through collecting complaints and testimonies. Human rights organizations have also traditionally supported the work of TCs providing information on cases of violations. The third stage, the period after the submission of a TC’s final report also allows for civil society mobilization to pressurize the government to implement the recommendations put forward by a TC. Transitional justice literature emphasizes the important role of civil society leadership and advocacy in the fate of recommendations. It is understood greater participation in setting up the commissions lead to greater mobilization to implement its recommendations. I argue that this is not necessarily the case. I suggest a close relation between civil society and pro-democracy political parties leading to the establishment of a TC can limit the pressure this civil society exercises to implement recommendations once those pro-democracy political parties are in the new government. To illustrate this reasoning, I present the examples of the commissions established in 1990 in Nepal and in 1994 in Sri Lanka.