TRNUC to complete mandate on March 31, 2023 |23 March 2023
The Truth, Reconciliation and National Unity Commission (TRNUC) has announced that it will complete its mandate on March 31, 2023 in conformity with the second extension of the mandate which was granted to it on December 31, 2022.
The TRNUC recalls that on August 9, 2022, it handed over to the President the completed volumes of its Final Report, namely Volume I - Introduction and Background, Volume II – Historical Context and Overview of Main Evidence, Volume IV - Amnesty, Volume V - Reparations and the Commission’s Recommendations. The Commission also filed part of Volume III - Legal Framework and Case Determinations, namely 124 of the 371 individual complaints filed before the Commission under Section 3(5) of the TRNUC Act. As the Commission had been unable to complete its mandate it was granted an initial extension until December 31, 2022 to do so. In November 2022, the Commission alerted the government that considerable investigative challenges meant that the Commission would be unable to complete all of its determinations under the extension granted. Thereafter, on December 31, 2022, the Commission was granted a further extension to March 31, 2023 for completion of its mandate.
On March 31, 2023, all 247 case determinations that had not been filed before the President on August 9, 2022, will be handed over by the TRNUC, thus completing the Final Report of the Commission. The Commission anticipates that pursuant to Section 10(4) of the TRNUC Act, the President shall make the complete final report public and lay a copy of it before the National Assembly within one month of receiving it.
The Commission hopes that its recommendation for the establishment of a successor body to implement reparations in accordance with the Commission’s victims-led Reparations Policy adopted in accordance with Section 3(7) (e)(i) of the TRNUC Act, will be implemented with the support of all government authorities.
The Commission notes in that regard that it has also very recently received a number of requests from complainants for reconsideration of their determinations. Given the end of mandate of the Commission, these requests will be handed to the successor body, to be established by the government, for its consideration.
The Commission also notes that other remaining residual functions still need to be completed, namely: transcription, translation and making publicly accessible the records of the Commission in accordance with Section 6(7) of its Act. The Commission hopes to receive the necessary support for the orderly completion of this residual aspect of its mandate as soon as possible.
Upon the final completion of its mandate, the Commission wishes to express its gratitude to the complainants, witnesses and suspects that cooperated with the Commission in the implementation of its challenging mandate.
The chairperson also wishes to expressly acknowledge the dedication, commitment, and impartiality of the National Commissioners, and to commend their efforts undertaken for the benefit of all Seychellois.
The Commission expresses its sincere hope that the contributions towards revealing and seeking to understand the past will ensure that the human rights violations do not recur, as well as facilitate a broad acceptance of that past. It is that broad acceptance that has the potential to lay the foundation for the building of a better future for all Seychellois.