Types of Truth-Seeking Initiatives

While courts can certainly be used to establish facts, they may present certain unavoidable limitations:

• The judiciary may be temporarily unable to hold effective trials if a state is failing or enduring civil unrest.
• Trials may be limited to notorious cases or to the most easily identifiable perpetrators, thus neglecting many victims.
• Trials establish the facts using judicial techniques, which may be inadequate to acknowledge the personal, cultural, or psychological experiences of victims.

Nonjudicial measures may be required to satisfy the right to the truth. They include:

• Establishing truth commissions and other non-judicial commissions of inquiry
• Reinforcing the laws protecting the freedom of information and expression
• Forms of remembrance and commemoration, such as memorials and museums