This paper is based on Amnesty International’s experience and assessment of the work of truth commissions in many countries around the world over the past decades, and is being published in order to contribute to the debate about ‘Truth and reconciliation processes as a complement to criminal justice’ at the Review Conference of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Kampala, Uganda, 31 May to 11 June 2010). Part One offers an overview of the 40 truth commissions established between 1974 and 2010. Part Two analyses their practice with respect to amnesty and prosecutions; and the Annex presents a list of the organization’s publications on truth commissions since 1986.