The right to the truth in international law: fact or fiction?

Abstract

The right to the truth has emerged as a legal concept at the national, regional and international levels, and relates to the obligation of the state to provide information to victims or to their families or even society as a whole about the circumstances surrounding serious violations of human rights. This article unpacks the notion of the right to the truth and tests the normative strength of the concept against the practice of states and international bodies. It also considers some of the practical implications of turning ''truth'' into a legal right, particularly from the criminal law perspective.

Local Evaluations of Justice through Truth Telling in Sierra Leone: Postwar Needs and Transitional Justice

“…We see, in these changes, the development within international legal theory of a postwar "right to truth" (Antkowiak 2002;Aldana-Pindell 2002;Naqvi 2006) and the opening up of the dominant paradigm of individuated retributive justice based on "the duty to punish" (Orentlicher 1994, 439) and embodied in criminal tribunals, to a competing conception, one of communal restorative justice. In the restorative conception, community is placed at the center of justice, as opposed to punishment, accountability, and deterrence, which form the center of the retributive approach.…”

How developments in the science and technology of searching, recovering and identifying the missing/ disappeared are positively affecting the rights of victims around the world

“…80 There is now a right to a remedy, which includes the right to an effective investigation, verification of the facts and the disclosure of the truth. 81 States have a duty to investigate human rights violations and what happened to the victims. The right to the truth 82 requires a state to carry out a rigorous investigation to disclose 'what really happened, why it happened, and who is directly and indirectly responsible'.…”

“…Remains and Violence 3/1 (2017),[71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89] …”

O Desaparecimento Forçado E a Abertura Para a Democracia Na América Latina

“…Nesse sentido, a verdade, apesar de não apresentar a materialidade de um cadáver, pode ser entendida como um meio de reparação muito importante, na medida em que sacia, mesmo que minimamente, a angústia das famílias. Coadunando com as reflexões, observa-se duas perspectivas para a compreensão do direito à verdade (Naqvi, 2006). Uma se refere às violações individuais de Direitos Humanos, exigindo, assim, respostas específicas para cada situação.…”