Searching for the Right to Truth: The Impact of International Human Rights Law on National Transitional Justice Policies

54 Pages Posted: 13 Mar 2016

See all articles by Sam Szoke-Burke

Sam Szoke-Burke

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment

Date Written: June 6, 2014

Abstract

This Article focuses on the right to truth and its interaction with the duty to bring perpetrators to justice following a period of gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law. It explores how truth-finding and criminal justice programs interact, and how States can most comprehensively satisfy their obligations with regard to the right to truth and the duty to bring perpetrators to justice, given the raft of practical limitations that a State may face in periods of political transition. The Article argues that even when a State is able to carry out prosecutions, it is likely obliged to look for additional strategies, including truth commissions, to more comprehensively fulfill its international human rights obligations. Additionally, where an exhaustive suite of prosecutions is not feasible in the short term, truth commissions and other transitional justice mechanisms can be employed to commence the fulfillment of the right to truth, though these should be implemented with a view to proceeding to thorough criminal justice processes as soon as the State’s political context permits.

Keywords: Transitional justice, right to truth, duty to prosecute, sequencing, truth commissions, prosecutions, international human rights

Suggested Citation

Szoke-Burke, Sam, Searching for the Right to Truth: The Impact of International Human Rights Law on National Transitional Justice Policies (June 6, 2014). Berkeley Journal of International Law (BJIL), Vol. 33, No. 2, 2015, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2447047

Sam Szoke-Burke (Contact Author)

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment ( email )

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