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Truth-Justice-Reparations Interaction Effects in Transitional Justice Practice: The Case of the ‘Valech Commission’ in Chile

Resource type
Author/contributor
Title
Truth-Justice-Reparations Interaction Effects in Transitional Justice Practice: The Case of the ‘Valech Commission’ in Chile
Abstract
Recent thinking and practice in transitional justice suggest that victims and societies hold indivisible, perhaps even simultaneous, rights to truth, justice and reparations after gross human rights violations. This article analyses the advantages and drawbacks of such holistic approaches to transitional justice, through a case study of Chile’s second official truth commission, the ‘Valech Commission’. The article illustrates the politics of ongoing contestation about authoritarian era crimes in Latin America, showing how and why the commission was designed to deliver on certain truth-and-reparations obligations towards survivors of past state repression, while attempting to explicitly decouple truth revelations from judicial consequences. It also discusses the implications of associating truth-telling and reparations in a single instance, and in doing so contributes to debates about the potentially contradictory or counterproductive outcomes that may arise from the yoking together of truth, justice and reparations functions in transitional justice policy design.
Publication
Journal of Latin American Studies
Volume
49
Issue
1
Pages
55-82
Date
2016-08-30
Journal Abbr
J. Lat. Am. Stud.
Language
English
ISSN
0022-216X, 1469-767X
Short Title
Truth-Justice-Reparations Interaction Effects in Transitional Justice Practice
Accessed
26/01/2023, 07:05
Library Catalog
DOI.org (Crossref)
Citation
Collins, C. (2016). Truth-Justice-Reparations Interaction Effects in Transitional Justice Practice: The Case of the ‘Valech Commission’ in Chile. Journal of Latin American Studies, 49(1), 55–82. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022216X16001437