A/HRC/24/42
Argentina;90 and (c) the assignment of follow-up responsibilities to independent human
rights institutions, as seen in practice in Sierra Leone.91
77.
Stand-alone official bodies have two main virtues: they can play a useful convening
and coordinating role among specialized agencies and ministries, and, as autonomous
bodies, they enjoy a certain degree of political independence. However, as agencies and
ministries are not under their authority, in the face of recalcitrant attitudes, they prove to be
feeble. Units within ministries, by contrast, can be effective implementers – but within their
narrow domain of competencies, and provided political willingness exists. Finally,
independent human rights bodies have more autonomy than stand-alone institutions and
moral authority unmatched by either stand-alone bodies or units within ministries.
Nevertheless, they tend to have narrow competencies and even less power to direct than
stand-alone specialized official institutions.
78.
Absent governmental commitment, an “institutional fix” to the lack of
implementation of recommendations is unlikely. Discussions about follow up, however,
have concentrated on institutional solutions rather than on functions. The urgent challenge
is to strengthen the incentives governments have for implementation. This will not happen
without a vigilant and involved civil society and a cooperative and yet demanding
international community. Increased attention should be paid to monitoring the
implementation of recommendations, because such processes can generate useful
incentives, and because effective monitoring is in any case necessary for sound
accountability. A good model of a monitoring mechanism is the interactive
recommendation matrix established by the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone with
the collaboration of the United Nations.92
79.
There is an urgent need to strengthen the leverage of civil society with a view to
improving the implementation record of governments. Therefore, the Special Rapporteur
encourages reflection on means available to truth commissions, governments and
international donors to strengthen civil society. During their operation, commissions can
strengthen civil society organizations and encourage the formation of networks of
organizations. After their operation, they can recommend the establishment of regular
forums where NGOs could share with governments the results of monitoring, which would
strengthen the accountability of authorities for the effective implementation of
recommendations.
2.
Archives
80.
Archives – both the commission’s own and general/national archives – are a natural
extension of the life and legacy of a truth commission, and permanent in nature. They are
instruments for realizing the right to truth.
90
91
92
22
to the legislature concerning four broad areas: reparations, historical memory, justice, and
institutional reform, see Final Report (fn 39), vol. IX, ch. 2, sect. 4. This body, however, was never
established.
In Argentina, for example, responsibility for the implementation of the various reparation plans was
eventually assigned to the Secretaría de Derechos Humanos within the Ministry of Justice, Security,
and Human Rights, see e.g., María José Guembe, The Reparations for Grave Human Rights
Violations: The Argentinian Experience, in de Greiff, The Handbook of Reparations (fn 49), p. 21.
Not by design but by default, in Sierra Leone, the Human Rights Commission – the establishment of
which was one of the recommendations of the TRC – has assumed the role of a Follow-up Committee
envisaged by the Act, see TRC Act 2000 (fn 85), part V.
Available at http://www.sierraleonetrc.org/index.php/resources/recommendations-matrix.
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