International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims

The truth is an empowering and healing force.  We embrace it for the past, the present and the future. UN Secretary-General António Guterres

The right to the truth is often invoked in the context of gross violations of human rights and grave breaches of humanitarian law. The relatives of victims of summary executions, enforced disappearance, missing persons, abducted children, torture, require to know what happened to them. The right to the truth implies knowing the full and complete truth as to the events that transpired, their specific circumstances, and who participated in them, including knowing the circumstances in which the violations took place, as well as the reasons for them (United Nations).