Equity and Reconciliation Commission

Morocco, 2004 to 2005. Unusually for a truth commission, it examined abuses committed under a monarchy that was still on the throne: the so-called Years of Lead, from independence in 1956 until the death of King Hassan II in 1999. King Mohammed VI ordered its report published. It confirmed at least 9,779 cases of abuse, found that 322 people listed as disappeared had in fact been killed during riots in the 1960s, 1980s and 1990s, and recommended compensation for 9,280 victims. It was barred from publicly naming individual perpetrators, though it urged an end to impunity for security officials. The useful lesson is the trade it embodies: an official record and reparations, with no change of regime and no trials.