TRC Final Report

Volume 6

Section 4

Chapter 2

Subsection 9

Responsibility and accountability for the examination and identification of human remains

104. A number of different civil society structures may decide in the future to embark on exhumation program. In this regard it is important to note the following:

a The state is the authority with the responsibility to ensure that human remains are examined and identified by qualified and competent people.

b The examination of remains should be carried out by qualified forensic specialists .

c Identification is carried out and confirmed by a medically qualified or legally competent person. Such identification should be confirmed only when all the relevant information has been integrated properly.

d The issuing of a certificate of death is the responsibility of a medically qualified person or the legal officer responsible for making the identification.

Exhumation of human remains

105. The Commission recommends that the following guidelines should be taken into account and strictly applied:

a the grave site should be located;

b a security perimeter should be established;

c the surface and features should be photographed and documented;

d the boundaries of the grave should be established;

e the soil covering the remains should be removed;

f the remains should be exposed;

g the location of the remains should be carefully mapped and photographed;

h the position of any personal effects or other objects not attached to the remains (e.g. keys and bullets) should be carefully noted, labelled distinctly and kept separate;

i the remains should be carefully removed, keeping them together as an entire body or parts of bodies;

j the remains should be store d;

k where appropriate, the family should be permitted visual access to the remains.

Cultural rites

106. In most cultures, sacred rituals dealing with the dead are extremely important. In certain local contexts in Africa, custom demands that ‘the spirit of the dead’ be officially brought home and inaugurated as an ‘ancestor’. Such rituals introduce the spirit to the living. It is believed that such rituals bring the spirit home out f rom the wilderness and into the home to rest and to watch over the living.

107. The tragedy of politically motivated deaths and disappearances impacts on traditional cultural and spiritual rituals, which can often not be performed. Families are left bereft and kept in a state of suspended mourning, knowing that the dead that can never rest. Certainty about their dead brings families small consolation, as it also renders up memories of how the loved one may have been treated before death.