North Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commissions and Transitional Justice in the Maghreb

Abstract

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa was a watershed case for African countries seeking to move forward with a legitimate transitional justice process. Drawing on previous lessons and various theoretical approaches, this chapter explores transitional justice in the Maghreb. In the past decades, governments in the Maghreb developed reconciliation commissions to confront injustices in previous regimes to transition towards stability, security, and peace. The chapter will examine Bouteflika's Commission of Inquiry following the Algerian Civil War, Mohammed VI's commission on human rights abuses during his father's reign, and the Tunisian commission on the former Bourguiba and Ben Ali regimes that sparked the Arab Spring. The chapter will identify the strengths and shortcomings of each commission and provide recommendations from the application of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions in the region for Libya's proposed commission once fighting between the different factions ceases.