ABSTRACT
In its 2001 End-of-the-Year magazine the New York Times listed ‘Designer Truth Commissions’ as one of the ideas that ‘capture the rhythm of the passing year and the opening of the new millennium’. As the New York Times noted, truth commissions proliferated so much so that now, ‘every nation emerging from dictatorship or war wants one’ and they are apparently becoming ‘a required part of any transition to democracy’ (Rosenberg, 2001: 66). Truth commissions are temporary truth-seeking bodies set up to investigate past records of human rights abuses that occurred over a period of time, rather than a specific event. They are officially authorized by the state and, upon completing their work, they produce a report (Hayner, 2001: 14). Over the last decade, truth commissions have become a common policy choice for newly democratic states emerging from repressive regimes or conflicts.2
