To develop procedures and institutions at national level to facilitate dialogue among political parties, communities, organisations, and other groups in order to prevent conflicts and disputes arising in the future To develop programmes to ensure that persons subjected to persecution, torture and other forms of abuse receive rehabilitative treatment and support To receive and consider complaints from the public and to take such action in regard to the complaints as it considers appropriate To develop mechanisms for early detection of areas of potential conflicts and disputes and to take appropriate preventive measures To conciliate and mediate disputes among communities, organisations and individuals To recommend legislation to ensure that assistance, including documentation, is rendered to persons affected by conflicts, pandemics or other circumstances record of the past as well as the rights of individual victims or communities and families of victims to have access to the truth of past violations and justice for such violations.3 The Commission shall have power to set up a Mediation Committee or any such mechanism of its choice for purposes of mediating conflicts and promoting dialogue among conflicting parties at national and local level. The Commission shall have power to establish a Victim Support Unit which shall take all necessary measures to ensure that persons subjected to persecution, torture and other forms of abuse receive rehabilitative treatment and support The Commission shall have power to set up mechanisms for the reception of complaints from the public on any matter regarding the disturbance of peace, presence of violence or threats of potential for violence Catered for by section 3 (2) (b) of the current NPRC Bill Catered for by section 3 (2) (b) of the NPRC Bill. The Commission shall have power to set up a Documentation and Archival Unit or any other mechanisms of its choice for the purposes of documentation of past conflicts/pandemic and accounting for all the victims, and recommend legislative measures and other reforms necessary to avoid recurrence of such conflicts / pandemics. 5.0 Amnesties The current NPRC Bill in section 19 (1) (e) gives the Commission power to make regulations that may provide for the procedure and conditions for the granting of pardon. This section placed under Miscellaneous Provisions is curious because the previous draft shared with stakeholders had this provision in Section 3 (2) (c) which giving the Commission power to recommend amnesty. Amnesty provisions featured again in the then section 9 (15). However, the current Bill features ‘pardon’ hidden away in the miscellaneous provisions. In essence, the Bill is trying here to smuggle in the issue of amnesties without giving it the The United Nations on Amnesties Most importantly, amnesties that prevent the prosecution of individuals who may be legally responsible for war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity and other gross violations of human rights are inconsistent with States’ obligations under various sources of international law as well as with United Nations policy. In addition, amnesties may not restrict the right of victims of violations of human rights or of war crimes to an effective remedy and reparations; nor may they impede either victims’ or societies’ right to know the truth about such violations. … Amnesties that exempt from criminal sanction those responsible for atrocious crimes in the hope of securing peace have often failed to achieve their aim and have instead emboldened their beneficiaries to commit further crimes. 3 Study on the right to the truth by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. See United Nations Rule of Law Tools for Post-Conflict E/CN.4/2006/91 States – Amnesties, HR/PUB/09/1 9 NTJWG Analysis of the NPRC Bill, March 2017