National commission on The dessapearence in Argentina. Reconciliation, but after truth and justice

CRENZEL, EMILIO ARIEL

Montreal

Conferencia; Whose Truth? What Kind of Reconciliation? The Importance of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions for Promoting Democratic Good Governance; 2014

McGill University

Abstract This article examines the contributions to transitional justice made by the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons (CONADEP) in Argentina; a commission established in December 1983 by then constitutional president, Ra´ul Alfons´ýn, to investigate the fate of the disappeared. In particular, the article analyzes how CONADEP?s inquiry simultaneously served the functions of creating a new public truth about the crimes ? which were based on secrecy, the destruction of evidence and concealment by the state ? and of collecting essential legal evidence necessary for the prosecution of perpetrators. Finally, it explains the success of the inquiry, which was a result of the combined efforts of Alfons´ýn?s democratic administration and the Argentinian human rights movement.