Roundtable on "Truth Commissions and Sexual Violence"

Truth commissions have become central mechanisms for addressing past atrocities and fostering societal healing—but their ability to meaningfully engage with sexual and gender-based violence remains uneven and contested. This session examines how truth commissions have addressed (or failed to address) sexual violence in diverse contexts, and the implications this holds for justice, memory, and institutional reform. Drawing on feminist critiques of transitional justice, the session explores questions of voice, representation, and re-traumatization, as well as the structural silences and hierarchies that shape which harms are acknowledged and how. What models exist for centering gendered experiences of violence? And what lessons can be drawn for future truth-seeking efforts that seek to take sexual violence seriously—not only as a personal violation but as a political and historical crime? And how can we as researchers create synergies with practical policy work in this field?

This session is part of the CMI/LawTransform project Truth Commissions and Sexual Violence: African and Latin American Experiences (RNC)

Moderator: Ana Braconnier (LawTransform/URL)

Panel Elin Skaar (CMI); Lesego Sekhu (Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation); Pilar Domingo