Colombia must rethink the role of truth commissions to secure the rights of victims of conflict

Colombia's Truth Commission must break away from dominant ideas of 'turning the page' through a ritual of purification. It needs instead to adopt a transformative approach to transitional justice, truth commissions, and collective memory, as well as creating a broad-based 'National Dialogue for Truth' that goes beyond regulating the Commission and involves society as a whole, writes Diana Gómez (Universidad de los Andes).