Right to truth
Right to truth is the right, in the case of grave violations of
Origins
The idea of a legal right to truth is distinct from the pre-existing understanding of the importance of establishing the truth about what happened in a case of human rights violation.
According to Patricia Naftali, the right to truth remains elusive because it is a concept with different definitions (sometimes contradictory), which is deployed in support of a variety of human rights claims.[14][15]
Cases
As a result of cases before international courts that find states in breach of human rights, states have been required to:[16]
- Conduct effective investigations and prosecute the responsible individuals
- Reveal information regarding missing persons
- Publicly apologize and acknowledge the violation of human rights
- Publish the court judgement
- Compensate victims
- Reimburse court costs of claimants
- Improve security to allow the return of displaced persons
- Take steps to avert re-occurrence of the violation
- Change national laws
- Institute measures to improve compliance with international human rights instruments
- Construct memorials to commemorate the human rights violation
United Nations Human Rights Committee
The first case that articulated a right to truth in international human rights jurisprudence was a forced disappearance case, Quinteros v. Uruguay (1983); the UN Human Rights Committee determined that, according to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the mother of the victim had "the right to know what has happened to her daughter. In these respects, she too is a victim of the violations of the Covenant suffered by her daughter in particular, of article 7 [ICCPR]".[17] In Saadoun v. Algeria (2003), regarding a man who was forcibly disappeared during the Algerian Civil War, the Committee determined that failure to investigate gave rise to a new violation of the ICCPR. In this case, Algeria had proclaimed an amnesty for crimes committed during the "national tragedy".[18]
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
Case law of the
The IACHR has often repeated its opinion:
the right to the truth is subsumed in the right of the victim or his next of kin to obtain clarification of the facts relating to the violations and the corresponding responsibilities from the competent State organs, through the investigation and prosecution established in Articles 8 and 25 of the Convention.[22]
European Court of Human Rights
There is also case law of the
Legal scholar James A. Sweeney criticized the ECtHR's approach to right-to-truth cases:
the ECtHR’s 'underlying values' test could have led the way in promoting internationally the notion that present-day denial or obstruction of the quest for truth about the gravest pre-ratification human rights abuses may amount, in itself, to a contemporary human rights violation. Such an approach does not apply each human rights treaty retroactively, nor does it convert every historical human rights abuse into a 'continuing violation', but it establishes exceptional circumstances in which denying the right to truth about historical human rights abuses is constitutive of a fresh violation within the temporal jurisdiction of the relevant enforcement body.[27]
National law
Argentine law recognizes the right to truth, with a
Potential forums
It has been suggested that victims might rely on Article 5 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights in right-to-truth cases before the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights.[29] The International Criminal Court's victim-centered approach may prove conducive to a right to truth.[30]
Other examples
According to legal scholar Agostina Latino, the right to truth related to the
The Inter-American Court and some theorists have suggested that truth-telling may be a form of partial reparations to victims of human rights abuses.[34][35][36] Right to truth is related to the fight against impunity as establishing the truth about a past event is the first step in holding perpetrators accountable.[37][38][39]
Right to Truth Day
Since 2010, the UN has commemorated International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims, or Right to Truth Day, on 24 March, the anniversary of the murder of El Salvador archbishop
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 978-90-04-25781-8.
- JSTOR 42763345.
- ^ .
- ^ S2CID 149087878.
- ISBN 978-1-317-33508-5.
- ^ Szoke-Burke, Sam (2015). "Searching for the Right to Truth: The Impact of International Human Rights Law on National Transitional Justice Policies". Berkeley Journal of International Law. 33: 526.
- ^ Sweeney 2018, p. 359.
- S2CID 144817072.
- ^ Groome 2011, p. 176.
- .
- ^ a b Sweeney 2018, pp. 356–357.
- ISBN 978-0-19-106128-8.
- ^ Sweeney 2018, p. 358.
- ISSN 1777-5272.
- .
- ^ Groome 2011, pp. 193–195.
- ^ Sweeney 2018, pp. 360–361.
- ^ Sweeney 2018, pp. 361–362.
- .
- ^ Latino 2018, p. 202.
- ^ Groome 2011, pp. 177–178.
- ^ Sweeney 2018, p. 369.
- ^ Groome 2011, p. 179.
- .
- ^ "Poland disappointed with European ruling over the 1940 Katyn massacre". Reuters. 21 October 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
- ISBN 978-0-8135-9776-8.
- ^ Sweeney 2018, p. 386.
- .
- ^ Groome 2011, p. 180.
- ISBN 978-3-319-09390-1.
- ISBN 978-1-4008-8963-1.
- ISBN 978-3-319-78169-3.
- S2CID 229073471.
- ^ Sweeney 2018, p. 367.
- .
- ^ Antkowiak, Thomas M. (2001–2002). "Truth as Right and Remedy in International Human Rights Experience". Michigan Journal of International Law. 23: 977.
- .
- ^ Groome, Dermot (2011). "The Right to Truth in the Fight against Impunity". Berkeley Journal of International Law. 29: 175.
- JSTOR 41676303.
- ^ "Right to Truth Day". United Nations. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
- ^ "Right to the Truth". International Center for Transitional Justice. 14 March 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
Further reading
- Aldana-Pindell, Raquel (2002). "In Vindication of Justiciable Victims' Rights to Truth and Justice for State-Sponsored Crimes". Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law. 35: 1399.
- Jaquemet, I. (2008). "Fighting Amnesia: Ways to Uncover the Truth about Lebanon's Missing". International Journal of Transitional Justice. 3 (1): 69–90. .
- Mulligan, Deirdre K.; Griffin, Daniel S. (2018). "Rescripting Search to Respect the Right to Truth". Georgetown Law Technology Review. 2 (2).
- Vanhullebusch, Matthias (2015). "The Right to Truth and the Legacies of World War II: A Way Forward for China?". East Asia's Renewed Respect for the Rule of Law in the 21st Century: The Future of Legal and Judicial Landscapes in East Asia. Hotei Publishing. pp. 87–111. ISBN 978-90-04-27420-4.
- Werkheiser, Ian (2020). "A Right to Understand Injustice: Epistemology and the "Right to the Truth" in International Human Rights Discourse". The Southern Journal of Philosophy. 58 (1): 186–199. .
- Medawatte, Danushka S. (2016). "Chasing Tails: Establishing the Right to Truth, Mourning and Compensation". California Western International Law Journal. 46: 69.
- "What Is Truth? An Eternal Question and the Tai Ji Men Case" by Massimo Introvigne at Bitter Winter (March 2024)