Gender, Justice and Truth Commissions
PREM Gender and Development Group, ESSD Conflict Prevention
and Reconstruction Team, Legal and Judicial Reform Practice Group, LAC Public
Sector Group, World Bank, June 2006
Truth commissions (TCs) are formed to investigate human rights violations that occur during armed conflict or under repressive regimes. When their work ends, TCs report their findings, along with recommendations for reparations and prevention of future abuses. By taking a gender-sensitive approach to its work, a commission can differentiate between the causes and consequences of human rights violations for men and women and design a gender-sensitive program of reparations.
This study reviewed the gender-related aspects of the work of TCs in Peru, Sierra Leone, and South Africa, as expressed in their daily work, in the drafting of the commission’s mandate, in the participation of civil society institutions, and in the preparation of the final report. The three country experiences were selected as informative examples. Following a description of the experiences in the three countries, this study focuses on the Peruvian case to illustrate how the formal and informal justice systems1 have responded to the gender-relevant findings of the TC. The study also provides general suggestions for the consideration of World Bank staff, particularly in the incorporation of gender issues into the Bank’s postconflict interventions in relevant sectors. Finally, the study reviews some basic indicators of progress and impact in Bank-financed interventions in post-conflict and transitional settings. in the incorporation of a gender perspective in a TC.
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