Commissionism in Brazil

Mapping, dynamics, and the democratic meanings of truth commissions (2011–2025)

Abstract

This article analyzes the phenomenon of comissionism in Brasil, understood as the proliferation of truth commissions across different spheres and institutions following the creation of the National Truth Commission. Based on the mapping of 129 commissions established between 2011 and 2025, the study examines how these initiatives reveal the decentralized, fragmented, and socially driven nature of memory policies in the country. More than a compilation of data, the survey systematizes scattered information and updates the understanding of the scope and impact of comissionism, significantly surpassing the figures previously presented by other authors. The results show that the peak of these initiatives occurred between 2012 and 2014, in a context of valorization of human rights, followed by a period of retraction between 2016 and 2022, marked by revisionism and institutional dismantling. The renewed momentum observed since 2023 highlights the sensitivity of memory policies to the conditions of democratic openness. Although the commissions did not always succeed in fully elucidating the cases they investigated, they were crucial in bringing visibility to the violations of the dictatorship, the importance of democracy, and the centrality of human rights. More than a historical assessment, the article proposes a research and action agenda aimed at consolidating a national database of truth commissions and strengthening public memory policies. By reaffirming truth as the only available instrument of justice in the face of the constraints imposed by the Amnesty Law, comissionism emerges as a mirror of democracy’s ongoing struggle against oblivion.

Keywords: Truth Commissions; Human Rights; Brazilian Democracy; Transitional Justice; Memory Policies.