Victims’ Testimonies in Truth Commissions: Who Owns the Memory?
Date
2019-02-14
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon School of Law
Abstract
After massive abuses of human rights, it is common for a government to create a truth commission. These bodies have different tools for finding the truth sought by wounded societies. One such tool, perhaps the most important, is the victims’ testimonies of the events that transpired. The problem this Article tries to solve arises when the truth commission promises the victims that their testimony will be kept confidential if they tell their stories. This Article seeks to resolve whether such confidentiality should be maintained or if the content of the statements should be publicly released because the whole society is entitled to know the truth. What should prevail in these situations: the private property that exists over the testimony itself (owned by the victims) or the right of society to know an episode of its past?
Description
34 pages
Keywords
Human rights
Citation
20 OR. REV. INT'L L. 79