Truth Commission Archives as 'New Democratic Spaces'

The significant increase in the number of truth commissions created and implemented in recent years has been accompanied by a growing number of debates over popular ownership of, and citizen participation in, such initiatives, with particular reference to enhancing the best impact possible in terms of ‘never again’ for the human rights abuses of the past. Using a combination of data collected through desk-based research and semi-structured interviews conducted with researchers and professionals of truth commission archives, this article takes a new approach to the question of the social and political impact of truth commissions by firstly suggesting that the archives of truth commissions need to be included in any consideration of long-term impact on democracy and human rights, and secondly by asking whether we could think of such archives as a form of ‘new democratic space’ similar to those proposed by Cornwall (2004). Such spaces would be designed and implemented in a manner that invites and includes the population in the decision-making process of shaping the future, and as such would represent an enhancement of the role which truth commission archives can play in the deepening of democratic processes and the protection of human rights.