Beyond Words: The Implementation Record of Latin American Truth Commissions’ Recommendations
The transformative potential of truth commissions (TCs) arguably lies most directly in the body of recommendations put forward in the report. TC recommendations usually include reforms in the legal, political and social fields, and reparations of various kinds. The list is often extensive. The tendency over time has been towards longer list of recommendations. This in itself raises questions about expectations and the possibility of implementation. In general, implementing TC recommendations clearly faces many obstacles. Hayner (2011) concludes that, although “[n]o one has yet analysed how many of the thousands of recommendations by truth commissions have been implemented”, the implementation record is generally poor. To cite one example, upon the tenth anniversary of the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a report from the International Center for Transitional Justice found that the implementation record has been abysmal (Correa, 2013). Nonetheless, as Hayner notes, impleme
