Truth seeking efforts include truth commissions. Because of the popularity of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, “reconciliation” is often included in the description of these processes. In fact, the TRC was unique in that effort.

Truth commissions are most commonly used to learn about what happened in a particular context, and therefore, there is a limited time frame (for example, the years of the “dirty war” in Argentina or the years following the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa), and a focus on particular crimes (such as massive human rights violations). Truth commissions may last for a year, two or three, but they are not indefinite. They often include a final report with recommendations for further action. Details such as amnesty, whether the hearings will be public and whether the commission has the power to investigate are all specific to the commission’s design. Importantly, they are not judicial bodies. They are independent from the judiciary—and sometimes are actually investigating the judiciary's role in the country’s conflict. In Sierra Leone there is currently a commission that borrows elements from several different models. And, in Guatemala, the truth seeking body was called the Commission for Historical Clarification.