Argentina's National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons: Contributions to Transitional Justice

Abstract

1 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, Raúl Alfonsín, 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 Alfonsín's democratic administration and the Argentinian human rights movement.

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