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

Journal of Latin American Studies (2016) Published online 30 August 2016, DOI:10.1017/S0022216X16001437.

35 Pages Posted: 8 Feb 2016 Last revised: 2 Sep 2016

See all articles by Cath Collins

Cath Collins

Ulster University - Transitional Justice Institute; Universidad Diego Portales

Date Written: September 1, 2015

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 paper 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 paper 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 toward survivors of past state repression, while attempting to explicitly decouple truth revelations from judicial consequences. It also discusses the implications of associating truthtelling and reparations in a single instance, and in doing so contributes to debate 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.

Keywords: Valech; transitional justice; truth commission; justice; reparations; Chile

Suggested Citation

Collins, Cath and Collins, Cath, Truth-Justice-Reparations Interaction Effects in Transitional Justice Practice: The Case of the ‘Valech Commission’ in Chile (September 1, 2015). Journal of Latin American Studies (2016) Published online 30 August 2016, DOI:10.1017/S0022216X16001437. , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2728795

Cath Collins (Contact Author)

Universidad Diego Portales ( email )

Republica 112
Santiago, Santiago
Chile

Ulster University - Transitional Justice Institute ( email )

Shore Road
Newtownabbey, Belfast BT37 OQB
Northern Ireland

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