At the turn of the 21st century, truth commissions arose as a new possibility to address the violence and trauma of removing Indigenous children from their families and nations in what is now known as North America. The creation of two truth and reconciliation commissions in Canada and Maine marked an important step in addressing Indigenous demands for justice and the end of harm, alongside Indigenous calls for truth-telling. Holding Indigenous conceptions of justice at its core, this dissertation offers a comparative tracing of the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2009-2015) and the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2013-2015) as they investigated state practices of removing Indigenous children from their homes and nations. More specifically, this dissertation examines the ways these truth commissions have intersected with Indigenous stories and how Indigenous stories can inform how we understand the work of truth and reconciliation commissions as they move to provide a form of justice for our communities. Within both commission processes, stories of Indigenous experiences in residential schools and the child welfare system were drawn from the perceived margins of settler colonial society in an effort to move towards truth, healing, reconciliation and justice. Despite this attempted inclusion of stories of Indigenous life experiences, I argue that deeply listening to Indigenous stories ¬¬in their various forms—life/ experiential stories, and traditional stories—illuminates the ways that the practice of reconciliation has become disconnected from Indigenous understandings of justice. As such, I argue that listening to Indigenous stories, not just hearing the words but instead taking them to heart, engaging with them and allowing them to guide us, moves toward more informed understandings of what justice looks like for Indigenous communities. / Graduate / 2022-09-12

This dissertation combines psychology with peace and conflict research in a cross-disciplinary approach to reconciliation processes after intrastate armed conflict. Two overarching contributions are made to the field of reconciliation research. The first is conceptual and methodological. The vague concept of reconciliation is defined and operationalized (Paper I), and a method is proposed for how reconciliation may be studied systematically at the national level (Paper II). By discussing what reconciliation is and how we should measure it, comparative research on reconciliation is facilitated which is imperative if we wish to learn of its promises and pitfalls in post-conflict peacebuilding. The second contribution is empirical. There has been an assumption that truth telling is healing and thereby will lead to reconciliation; healing is the assumed link between truth and reconciliation. This assumption was investigated in two studies in Rwanda in 2006. A multistage, stratified cluster random survey of 1,200 adults was conducted to assess whether witnessing in the gacaca, the Rwandan village tribunals for truth and reconciliation, was beneficial for psychological health; thereby investigating the claim that truth telling is healing (Paper III). The results of the survey are disconcerting. Witnesses in the gacaca suffered from significantly higher levels of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder than non-witnesses also when controlling for important predictors for psychological ill-health such as gender or trauma exposure. To acquire a more comprehensive understanding of the experience of witnessing in the gacaca, in-depth interviews were conducted with 16 women genocide survivors who had witnessed in the gacaca (Paper IV). The results of this study challenge the claim that truth telling is healing, suggesting instead that there are risks for the individuals on whom truth-telling processes depend. Traumatization, ill-health, isolation, and insecurity dominate the lives of the testifying women. Insecurity as a result of the truth-telling process emerged as one of the most crucial issues at stake. This dissertation presents a novel understanding of the complexity of reconciliation in post-conflict peacebuilding, demonstrating that truth and reconciliation processes may entail more risks than were previously known. The results of this dissertation can be used to improve the study and the design of truth and reconciliation processes after civil war and genocide.

O trabalho a seguir se propõe a analisar o fundamento teórico do direito à verdade, sua origem histórica e implicações. Para tanto parte da ideia arendtiana de que a verdade factual muitas vezes está em oposição à política. Assim, a mentira e o segredo são instrumentos eficazes para manutenção e sobrevivência do autoritarismo estatal. Portanto, estabelecer a verdade se torna elemento essencial de um estado democrático de direito. O direito à verdade, nesse sentido é reconhecido como um direito de toda a coletividade e se relaciona à discussão sobre o acesso à informação e a responsabilização de agentes do estado. Existe ainda uma segunda faceta do direito à verdade, que se encontra na origem da construção do conceito e consiste no direito individual em saber sobre as circunstâncias do desaparecimento de pessoas. Além do reconhecimento do direito à verdade, outro problema central dos direitos humanos e que não pode ser preterido é a sua efetivação. Com efeito, a enunciação de direitos, por si só, não basta. A partir dessa perspectiva, cumpre observar como o direito à verdade pode ser implementado. Dentre os diversos mecanismos disponíveis, as comissões da verdade chamam especial atenção. Nesse sentido, a Comissão de Acolhimento Verdade e Reconciliação (CAVR) de Timor-Leste representa um marco paradigmático para o direito à verdade. Para compreender o funcionamento e os resultados da comissão é necessário considerar as características gerais de uma comissão da verdade, bem como o contexto social e cultural de Timor-Leste. As comissões da verdade, como meios alternativos de solução de conflitos inserem-se em um contexto de justiça restaurativa, cujo objetivo primordial é o encerramento do ciclo de violência. Em razão do poder reconciliador que possuem, inúmeras comissões instalaram-se ao redor do globo, com a onda de democratizações, sobretudo a partir dos anos 90. Embora seja possível identificar alguns elementos comuns às comissões da verdade, cada um delas conta com peculiaridades próprias. Com efeito, a diversidade de contextos nos quais se desenvolvem os mecanismos de justiça de transição, se traduzem também na diversidade do trabalho de tais instituições. Portanto, para que se compreendam os trabalhos e desafios enfrentados pela CAVR, é preciso apreender o contexto da sociedade timorense. Timor-Leste caracteriza-se por ser uma sociedade segmentada, em que a justiça comunitária ainda é o principal meio de solução de conflitos. Outro importante fator é a tradição da linguagem oral, que valoriza a memória para o estabelecimento de regras sociais e de justiça. A CAVR, ao incorporar esses elementos, logrou êxito na condução da reconciliação no nível das comunidades e contribuiu igualmente para a construção da identidade nacional. A documentação produzida serviu ainda como importante referência para que se trouxessem à luz os abusos cometidos. Nesse sentido, teve uma importante função educativa ao esclarecer as relações estabelecidas entre os indivíduos e o estado durante o regime autoritário. Além disso, as recomendações produzidas pela CAVR revelam-se ainda atuais, servindo como referência para o desenvolvimento de instituições e políticas nacionais em Timor-Leste. / The following study analyzes the theoretical basis of the right to truth, its historical origin and implications. It´s starting point is Hannah Arendt´s idea that factual truth is often in opposition to politics. Thus, the recourse to lies and the secrecy are effective tools for the maintenance and survival of state authoritarianism. Therefore, establishing the truth becomes a crucial element of democratic states based on the rule of law. The right to the truth in this regard is recognized as a right of the whole community and relates to the discussion on access to information and accountability of state agents. There is a second dimension of the right to truth, which lies within the original construction of the concept and translates into the individual right to know about the circumstances of the disappearance of persons. In addition to the recognition of the right to truth, another central issue of human rights - and that can not disregarded is its effectiveness. The sole announcement of the recognition of rights is not enough. From this perspective, the way in which the right to truth can be implemented should be noted. Among the various available mechanisms, truth commissions draw special attention. Accordingly, the Commission for Reception Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR) in Timor-Leste offers a paradigmatic framework for the right to truth. In order to understand how it operated and the outputs of the commission, it is necessary to consider the general characteristics of a truth commissions, as well as the social and cultural context of Timor-Leste. As alternative means of dispute resolution, truth commissions fall into the broader context of restorative justice, for which the primary goal is the end of the cycle of violence . Because of the reconciling power they have, many commissions have been set up around the globe, especially after the wave of democratizations in the 90s. Although it is possible to identify some common elements, each truth commission has its own peculiarities. The diversity of contexts in which transitional justice mechanisms develop, implicate on the diversity of the work of such institutions. Therefore, in order to understand the work and challenges faced by the CAVR, it is necessary to understand the context of East Timorese society. Timor-Leste is a segmented society, where community justice is still the primary means of conflict resolution. Another important factor is the tradition of oral language, which values the memory in order to establish of social rules and justice. By incorporating such elements, the CAVR was successful in driving the reconciliation process at the community level and at the same time contributed to the construction of national identity. The documents the CAVR produced also served as an important reference in order to shred light into the human rights violations. In this sense, it had an important educational role by clarifying the relations between individuals and the state during the authoritarian regime. In addition, the recommendations produced by the CAVR turn out to be still accurate, acting as a reference for the development of national institutions and policies in Timor-Leste.

<p>This dissertation combines psychology with peace and conflict research in a cross-disciplinary approach to reconciliation processes after intrastate armed conflict. Two overarching contributions are made to the field of reconciliation research. The first is conceptual and methodological. The vague concept of reconciliation is defined and operationalized (Paper I), and a method is proposed for how reconciliation may be studied systematically at the national level (Paper II). By discussing what reconciliation is and how we should measure it, comparative research on reconciliation is facilitated which is imperative if we wish to learn of its promises and pitfalls in post-conflict peacebuilding. The second contribution is empirical. There has been an assumption that truth telling is healing and thereby will lead to reconciliation; healing is the assumed link between truth and reconciliation. This assumption was investigated in two studies in Rwanda in 2006. A multistage, stratified cluster random survey of 1,200 adults was conducted to assess whether witnessing in the gacaca, the Rwandan village tribunals for truth and reconciliation, was beneficial for psychological health; thereby investigating the claim that truth telling is healing (Paper III). The results of the survey are disconcerting. Witnesses in the gacaca suffered from significantly higher levels of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder than non-witnesses also when controlling for important predictors for psychological ill-health such as gender or trauma exposure. To acquire a more comprehensive understanding of the experience of witnessing in the gacaca, in-depth interviews were conducted with 16 women genocide survivors who had witnessed in the gacaca (Paper IV). The results of this study challenge the claim that truth telling is healing, suggesting instead that there are risks for the individuals on whom truth-telling processes depend. Traumatization, ill-health, isolation, and insecurity dominate the lives of the testifying women. Insecurity as a result of the truth-telling process emerged as one of the most crucial issues at stake. This dissertation presents a novel understanding of the complexity of reconciliation in post-conflict peacebuilding, demonstrating that truth and reconciliation processes may entail more risks than were previously known. The results of this dissertation can be used to improve the study and the design of truth and reconciliation processes after civil war and genocide.</p>

Transitional Justice bezeichnet staatliche Anstrengungen um vergangene Menschenrechtsverletzungen am Ende von Represionen aufzuarbeiten. Reparationszahlungen an die Opfer, die eines der Hauptinstrumente staatlicher Aufarbeitung darstellen können, blieben in der Transitional Justice-Literatur vergleichweise unerforscht. Dieses Buch versucht diese Lücke zu schließen und fragt, warum manche Staaten solche Programme eingeleitet haben, während andere junge Demokratien darauf verzichteten. Dabei setzt sie Reparationszahlungen in den Kontext anderer Transitional Justice-Maßnahmen und greift gleichzeitig zwei Haupterklärungsansätze für gerichtliche Verfahren und Wahrheitskommissionen auf. In diesem Zusammenhang ist die Frage, inwieweit Transitional Justice aus moralischer Überzeugung oder aus taktischem Kalkül der neuen Eliten eingeleitet wurde. In dem die Arbeit diese Frage am Beispiel der Zahlung von Entschädigungsleistungen diskutiert, kann sie auch Aussagen darüber machen, wie valide die bestehenden Erklärungsansätze für Transitional Justice sind. Anhand der südamerikanischen Regimewechsel in den 1980ern wird aufgezeigt, dass Reparationszahlungen oft zur Legitimation von Amnestien verwendet wurden. Wenn Täter und Opfer relativ starkes Drohpotential besaßen, versuchten Regierungen den Opfern durch Entschädigung entgegenzukommen um Amnestien für die Täter bei gleichzeitiger Anerkennung der Taten zu rechtfertigen. Entschädigungszahlungen wurden somit oft aus strategischen Erwägungen geleistet, was man bei der normativen Bewertung dieser Programme berücksichtigen sollte. / Transitional justice refers to approaches that states use to address past human rights violations at the end of violence and repression. Providing reparations to victims, which can be understood as one of the main instruments of Transitional Justice, has so far received relatively little attention in the Transitional Justice literature. This book tries to fill this gap and asks why some states chose to implement reparation programs while others did not. Putting reparations into context this book adapts explanations for the realization of trials and truth commissions and asks whether they also hold for reparations. The main question is, whether state elites chose Transitional Justice mechanisms for moral or tactical reasons. Hence, by analyzing reparations this book can also help us to reappraise the validity of popular explanations for other Transitional Justice mechanisms. Studying the democratic transitions in South America in the 1980ies this book shows that reparations were often paid to justify amnesty decisions for the perpetrators. When perpetrators and victims posed a credible threat for the incumbents, they implemented reparation programs while crimes of the past went unpunished. In most cases reparations were paid due to tactical convenience rather than moral commitment, which should be considered when we evaluate the concept of reparations.

Für den Umgang post-autoritärer Gesellschaften mit den Tätern von Menschenrechtsverletzungen der Vorgängerregime gibt es zahlreiche Möglichkeiten. Neben der legalen Strafverfolgung haben sich seit Mitte der 1970er Jahre vor allem Wahrheitskommissionen als Form gegenseitiger Versöhnung zwischen Tätern und Opfern etabliert. Die vorliegende Studie gibt aus der Perspektive der vergleichenden Politikfeldforschung eine Antwort auf die Frage, welche politischen Faktoren der Wahrheitskommissionen in Uruguay, Panama und Ghana zu einer Verzögerung bei den Aufarbeitungsprozessen nach der Transition führen. Dazu werden aus der Theorie von Transitional Justice Hypothesen zur Machtverteilung, dem Ausmaß der Menschenrechtsverletzungen und den zivil-militärischen Reformen für verspätete Wahrheitskommissionen abgeleitet, welche zur Plausibilisierung der Verzögerung beitragen. Im empirisch-analytischen Teil der Arbeit wird in der Untersuchungs- und Kontrollgruppe deutlich, dass im Vergleich zu transitionsnahen Wahrheitskommissionen ein niedrigeres Niveau an Menschenrechtsverletzungen den politischen Druck für die Aufarbeitung hemmt und die Täter als demokratisch gewählte Machthaber nach der Transition kein Interesse an der Wahrheit haben (Ghana und Panama) bzw. mit den neuen Machthabern paktierten (Uruguay). Zudem zeigt die Studie, dass zivil-militärische Reformen keinen Einfluss auf die Aufarbeitung der Wahrheit haben, wie in der Literatur argumentiert wird. Auch wird angezweifelt, dass sich die politische Machtverteilung bei der Einsetzung von Wahrheitskommissionen im Gleichgewicht befindet. / For dealing with former human rights violations post-conflict societies have several choices. Besides criminal prosecutions truth commissions have been set up since the mid 1970 to find a way for reconciliation between perpetrators and victims. This paper focuses on the analysis of truth commissions with a significant time span to the transitional period in a comparative manner and asks for the causal mechanisms linked to it. To explain the time lack hypotheses are tested on the balance of power, civil-military reforms and the degree of human rights violations. The analyses for the truth commissions in Uruguay, Ghana and Panama indicate that a lower degree of human rights violations and the elections of political leaders and parties closely linked to the authoritarian era foreclose the establishment process. These results are controlled by the analysis of truth commissions in Argentina, South Africa and Haiti that were directly set up after the transition. Further it is argued that civil-military reforms have no influence on the establishment of truth commissions and that the balance of power is not levelled as is argued in the literature.

In 1990, Chile made a successful transition from the authoritarian dictatorship that had ruled the country since 1973 to a democratically elected government. The authoritarian regime was characterized by massive and systemic practices of human rights abuses, and it left an official toll of 5,000 deaths, about 2000 of which constitute “detained and disappeared people”, and an additional 27,000 people who have been officially recognized as victims of torture. These figures do not take into account the unknown numbers of Chilean exiles, or those who were internally displaced or who lost their jobs due to their suspected political affiliations. The human cost of the military regime has continued to be one of the most enduring issues confronting the post-authoritarian Chilean nation. This thesis builds on the work of critical researchers who locate the Chilean authoritarian regime in the transnational politics of the Cold War and their effect in implementing neo-liberalism in Chile. This literature demonstrates that terror was a constitutive, rather than an incidental, element of neo-liberal governmentality: governmentality that inscribed itself on Chilean bodies through terror practices and that remains unscathed through the transition to democracy. With that premise in mind I explore, through a historical analysis of major conjunctures in the history of human rights debates in Chile, how the post-authoritarian nation accounts for the human rights legacies of authoritarianism while obscuring the continuity of authoritarian governmentality. I propose that human rights constitute a biopolitical governmental regime that in a manner comparable to the authoritarian terror captures human life within the realm of state power. As a regime, human rights submit experiences of terror to specific power-knowledge technologies that render terror intelligible, manageable and governable. Rather than promoting essential values of truth and justice, the human rights regime produces specific discourses of truth and justice as well as specific discourses of subjectivity and nation. In concrete terms, this thesis explores how the post-authoritarian nation and it subjects use the human rights regime to discursively construct a national truth in order to promote and protect specific governmental arrangements.

<p>Since the 1980&rsquo / s, many dictatorships around the world have been replaced by new democracies. These old dictatorships were notorious for their human rights abuses. Many people were killed and tortured / and many others were disappeared. When the new governments came into power, they had to confront these injustices that were perpetrated under the predecessor regime. This was necessary to create a culture of human rights / promote a respect for the law and access to justice. Many confronted these injustices in different ways, some granted amnesty, some prosecuted and others instituted truth commissions. This research paper focuses on truth commissions. The research focuses particularly on the study of the South African Truth Commission. The mandate of the South African Truth Commission is analysed and the investigation into whether the commission served the purpose for which it had been established is discussed.</p>

In 1990, Chile made a successful transition from the authoritarian dictatorship that had ruled the country since 1973 to a democratically elected government. The authoritarian regime was characterized by massive and systemic practices of human rights abuses, and it left an official toll of 5,000 deaths, about 2000 of which constitute “detained and disappeared people”, and an additional 27,000 people who have been officially recognized as victims of torture. These figures do not take into account the unknown numbers of Chilean exiles, or those who were internally displaced or who lost their jobs due to their suspected political affiliations. The human cost of the military regime has continued to be one of the most enduring issues confronting the post-authoritarian Chilean nation. This thesis builds on the work of critical researchers who locate the Chilean authoritarian regime in the transnational politics of the Cold War and their effect in implementing neo-liberalism in Chile. This literature demonstrates that terror was a constitutive, rather than an incidental, element of neo-liberal governmentality: governmentality that inscribed itself on Chilean bodies through terror practices and that remains unscathed through the transition to democracy. With that premise in mind I explore, through a historical analysis of major conjunctures in the history of human rights debates in Chile, how the post-authoritarian nation accounts for the human rights legacies of authoritarianism while obscuring the continuity of authoritarian governmentality. I propose that human rights constitute a biopolitical governmental regime that in a manner comparable to the authoritarian terror captures human life within the realm of state power. As a regime, human rights submit experiences of terror to specific power-knowledge technologies that render terror intelligible, manageable and governable. Rather than promoting essential values of truth and justice, the human rights regime produces specific discourses of truth and justice as well as specific discourses of subjectivity and nation. In concrete terms, this thesis explores how the post-authoritarian nation and it subjects use the human rights regime to discursively construct a national truth in order to promote and protect specific governmental arrangements.

<p>Since the 1980&rsquo / s, many dictatorships around the world have been replaced by new democracies. These old dictatorships were notorious for their human rights abuses. Many people were killed and tortured / and many others were disappeared. When the new governments came into power, they had to confront these injustices that were perpetrated under the predecessor regime. This was necessary to create a culture of human rights / promote a respect for the law and access to justice. Many confronted these injustices in different ways, some granted amnesty, some prosecuted and others instituted truth commissions. This research paper focuses on truth commissions. The research focuses particularly on the study of the South African Truth Commission. The mandate of the South African Truth Commission is analysed and the investigation into whether the commission served the purpose for which it had been established is discussed.</p>