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An Evaluation of Impact of the Commissions Established in Nepal and Sri Lanka Carl

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ADVERTIMENT. Lʼaccés als continguts dʼaquesta tesi queda condicionat a lʼacceptació de les condicions dʼús establertes per la següent llicència Creative Commons: http://cat.creativecommons.org/?page_id=184 ADVERTENCIA. El acceso a los contenidos de esta tesis queda condicionado a la aceptación de las condiciones de uso establecidas por la siguiente licencia Creative Commons: http://es.creativecommons.org/blog/licencias/ WARNING. The access to the contents of this doctoral thesis it is limited to the acceptance of the use conditions set by the following Creative Commons license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/?lang=en PhD in International Relations and European Integration Doctoral Thesis How Truth Commissions Promote Accountability: An Evaluation of Impact of the Commissions Established in Nepal and Sri Lanka Autor: Carlos Fernández Torné Director: Dr. Rafael Grasa Hernández Departament de Dret Públic i Ciències Historicojurídiques Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Març de 2017 Carlos Fernández Torné PhD Thesis Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Abstract Most studies assess impacts of truth commissions (TCs) in pre-conceived outcomes, such as democracy or human rights, without considering how a TC process affects that outcome. This research attempts to evaluate the impact of TCs as processes and how these processes influence the ultimate outcomes. A focus on process entails considering public participation in TCs and the relationships and interactions that a TC generates among the various affected groups within society. Accountability provides a framework to evaluate whether the relationships a TC generates empower people in front of the state, allowing us to link process and outcome. The theory of change presented suggests that TCs as processes generate vertical accountability relationships between the state and civil society and horizontal accountability relationships within the state. These accountability relationships take place prior to the establishment of a TC, during their work and as a result of the recommendations compiled in the final report. To prove the existence of accountability relationships, I devise a framework consisting of fourteen evaluative criteria. Next I evaluate the impact of the commissions established in Nepal and Sri Lanka in the 1990’s. The results show that while these commissions produced much answerability the recommendations compiled in the final report, in most cases, were not implemented. Lack of implementation shows limited empowerment of people in front of the state. Unpacking these commissions in light of the accountability framework helps identify the challenges governing regimes face at the time of implementation. The framework also helps recognize lack of civil society mobilization could be linked to close relations with political parties prior to the establishment of a commission. The accountability framework presented allows us to link process and outcome. Process wise, the accountability relationships TCs generate are causal relations that generate impact. Outcome wise, it is the previous definition and operationalization of accountability what allows us to understand whether a TC has contributed overall to promote accountability as the ultimate outcome. i Carlos Fernàndez Torné PhD Thesis Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona ii Carlos Fernàndez Torné PhD Thesis Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Contents Abstract i Contents iii List of Illustrations x Acronyms xi Preface xiii Defining the problem xiii Origin of this research and personal motivations xiv Research question, aim and objectives of this study xvi Research Methodology xvii Planning the thesis and structure xx Acknowledgements xxiii Declaration xxvi PART I: DEVISING THE FRAMEWORK: TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE AND THE IMPACT OF TRUTH COMMISSIONS IN ACCOUNTABILITY 1 Chapter 1: Transitional justice and peacebuilding: Assessing the impact of truth commissions as processes 5 Introduction 5 1.1 From transitions to democracy in Latin America to transitional justice as a process of peacebuilding 6 1.1.1 Transitional justice background 6 1.1.2 Transitional justice as an integral part of peacebuilding 12 1.1.3 Summary conclusion 14 1.2 Actors and instruments of transitional justice: civil society and truth commissions 15 1.2.1 Civil society in transitional justice processes 15 iii Carlos Fernàndez Torné PhD Thesis Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Civil society actors in transitional justice 18 1.2.2 Truth commissions as an instrument of transitional justice 20 Commissions of inquiry, the precedent to truth commissions 23 1.3 Assessing the impact of truth commissions: the state of the art 27 1.3.1 The broader picture: transitional justice impact 28 1.3.2 Impact studies on truth commissions 29 Quantitative studies assessing the impact of TCs 31 Qualitative studies assessing the impact of TCs 34 1.3.3 In-depth analysis of two complementary qualitative studies 36 1.3.4 The need to connect process and outcome in impact studies of TCs 40 1.4 Assessing impact of TC as a process 42 1.4.1 A focus on TCs’ process entails a focus on public participation 42 1.4.2 Truth commissions as generators of relationships 44 1.5 Conclusions 46 Chapter 2: Accountability, a new framework to evaluate the impact of truth commissions 49 Introduction 49 2.1 Contextualizing accountability within the transitional justice field 49 2.2. Conceptualizing and operationalizing accountability 52 2.2.1 The meaning of accountability 52 Answerability dimension of accountability 53 Enforcement dimension of accountability 54 Do both answerability and enforcement dimensions need to be present to qualify as an accountability relation? 55 2.2.2 Making accountability work: horizontal and vertical accountability 56 2.3 Accountability relationships as a result of a truth commission? 57 2.3.1 Horizontal accountability relationships 57 2.3.2 Vertical accountability relationships 62 2.4 A framework to evaluate the impact of TCs in promoting accountability 65 iv Carlos Fernàndez Torné PhD Thesis Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona 2.4.1 Answerability as a result of vertical accountability relationships before a TC 65 2.4.2 Answerability as a result of horizontal accountability relationships during a TC 68 2.4.3 Enforcement as a result of horizontal and vertical accountability relationships after the recommendations 73 Enforcement as a result of horizontal accountability relationships 74 Enforcement as a result of vertical accountability relationships 76 2.5 Conclusions 79 Chapter 3: Analytical framework and methodology for case studies 83 Introduction 83 3.1 The analytical and design framework 84 3.1.1 Evaluation of impact through theory based impact evaluation 84 A theory of change: How truth commissions generate accountability relationships 88 Testing the theory: Criteria to evaluate answerability and enforcement 89 3.1.2 Case study: A justification of Nepal and Sri Lanka 92 Case study: Nepal 93 Case study: Sri Lanka 95 Comparative remarks 95 3.2 Collecting and analyzing data 96 3.2.1 Literature review 97 3.2.2 Elite agents’ interview 98 Elaborating the sample 98 Practical conducting of the interview and Line of inquiry to collect evidence 100 Analysis of data resulting from the interviews 103 3.3 Ethical and gender considerations 103 3.4 Concluding remarks 106 v Carlos Fernàndez Torné PhD Thesis Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona PART II: IMPLEMENTING THE FRAMEWORK: AN EVALUATION OF IMPACT OF THE COMMISSIONS ESTABLISHED IN NEPAL AND SRI LANKA 107 Chapter 4: Truth commissions in Nepal: the impact of the Mallik Commission and the Committee on Disappearances 111 Introduction 112 4.1 Context: The 1990 transition from Panchayat to multiparty democracy 112 4.1.1 Background: pre-Panchayat political history 113 4.1.2 The Panchayat regime 115 4.1.3 The People’s Movement: 50 days + 8 days of “Jana Andolan” 119 Political parties and human rights organizations relations 119 50 days of People’s Movement 120 8 more days of People’s Movement 125 4.2 The corpus for exam: the Mallik Commission and the Committee on Disappearances 127 4.2.1 An overview of the Commissions 128 The Mallik Commission 128 The Committee on Disappearances 130 4.2.2 Re-writing what has been said about the two commissions 134 4.2.3 Elite interviews 137 4.3 Assessing the impact on accountability: the Mallik Commission 140 4.3.1 Answerability as a result of vertical accountability relationships before the establishment of a TC (EC 1-2) 140 4.3.2 Answerability as a result of horizontal accountability relationships during the work of a TC (EC 3-9) 142 4.3.3 Enforcement as a result of horizontal and vertical accountability relationships after the recommendations (EC 10-14) 148 Enforcement as a result of horizontal accountability relationships 148 Enforcement as a result of vertical accountability relationships 155 vi Carlos Fernàndez Torné PhD Thesis Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona 4.3.4 Explaining lack of enforcement after the recommendations 161 4.4 Assessing the impact on accountability: the Committee on disappearances 164 4.4.1 Answerability as a result of vertical accountability relationships before the establishment of a TC (EC 1-2) 165 4.4.2 Answerability as a result of horizontal accountability relationships during the work of a TC (EC 3-9) 166 4.4.3 Enforcement as a result of horizontal and vertical accountability relationships after the recommendations (EC 10-14) 172 4.5 Conclusions 172 Chapter 5: Truth commissions in Sri Lanka: the impact of the Three Zonal Commissions of Inquiry 177 Introduction 177 5.1 Context: Party
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