Truth commissions in Africa are increasingly addressing conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), gender-based violence and gender inequality in their mandates, operations and recommendations. This database of country case studies provides summaries of the nature of the conflict and gendered violations in each African context, the societal factors that enabled CRSV, and the nature of the transition that resulted in the establishment of a truth commission. It then goes into detail about the provisions for CRSV made in each truth commission’s mandate, operations, final report and recommendations, as well as the extent to which the recommendations have been implemented.

The 2019 African Union Transitional Justice Policy states, “Given the gendered dimension of violence, criminal investigations and national and local processes for truth and reconciliation should give particular attention to sexual and gender-based violence as well as to patterns of gender inequality in the society that enable gender-based violence.” The country case studies in this database show the progress made in this regard and the long way left to go.

The database was created as part of the project “Sexual Violence and Truth: The Role of Truth Commissions in Addressing Conflict-related Sexual Violence in Africa and Latin America,” implemented by the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation in partnership with the Chr. Michelsen Institute (Norway) and the Overseas Development Institute (UK). It was updated in 2023.