A society with a violent past has the right to seek the truth. This right belongs to individuals, as well as the society as a whole. At the international level, the right to truth has been recognised as a legal basis to establish truth commissions or other similar mechanisms, due to the need of the victims, their relatives and general society to know the truth about what has taken place. A commission is able facilitate the reconciliation process; contribute to the fight against impunity as well as reinstall and strengthen democracy and the rule of law. It provides a public platform for victims to address the nation directly with their personal stories and can facilitate public debate about how to come to terms with the past. Zimbabwe’s new Constitution provides this platform through the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission. To interrogate the question on how to make this commission effective, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation and the the Hague Institute for Global Justice convened the Second International Conference on Transitional Justice in October 2013. Presenters came from Kenya, Guatemala, Germany, South Africa and Sierra Leone and shared the experiences of different countries in establishing commissions. Truth commissions have numerous facets and the wealth of first-hand experience was shared from the listed countries. The discussions ranged from the history of violations, the International Criminal Court (ICC), to the internal dynamics of commissions. The manner in which the various commissions dealt with human rights, reconciliation, mediation and legal frameworks were only some of the many additional topics discussed by transitional justice stakeholders and academics from Zimbabwe and around the world. This report presents the substance of the conference as well as the outcomes, which are currently shaping the transitional justice stakeholders’ strategy on making Zimbabwe’s National Peace and Reconciliation Commission effective. T H E I N S T I T U T E FOR JUSTICE AND RECONCILIATION The Hague Institute for Global Justice TRUTH, JUSTICE & RECONCILIATION COMMISSIONS Second International Conference on Transitional Justice in Zimbabwe