XI. REPORTING ON CONSULTATIONS While a report of a consultation exercise can take numerous forms, it must always be true to the views that have been expressed. In part, this will be achieved by maintaining the scientific rigour of whatever qualitative or quantitative consultation has been undertaken. Any additional analysis and editorializing need to be considered with great caution. This has not always been the case in the past. For instance, a national consultation process in one country resulted in a clear call for the establishment of a “truth, reconciliation and justice commission”, whereas the report of that consultation made reference only to a “truth and reconciliation commission.” As a general rule, reports should be published. Certainly, if a commitment was made to publish, it should be honoured. Otherwise, it will generally be correct to at least deliver specific findings, or some other form of summary feedback, to those who have been consulted. There may be exceptional circumstances in which publication is not appropriate. The clearest such situation is if a report on a specific consultation should be withheld until a wider process is completed, thus avoiding the release of partial or possibly misleading findings. Other cases justifying non-publication include those in which there may be reasons to suspect that findings have been manipulated or tampered with, although in such a situation it will be important to rectify the faults at the earliest possible opportunity and then consider publication of the corrected findings. If the findings are inconsistent with international standards of transitional justice, it is important to accompany their publication with a critical commentary. When reports are published, account needs to be taken of the capacities of the recipients. Reports should be translated into local languages and distributed appropriately. In some countries, they have been quoted at length in newspapers and on posters, and copies have been handed out free of charge. Copies have also been placed for consultation in such public facilities as town halls, post offices, medical facilities, schools and libraries. When reports are posted on the Internet, account should be taken of the technical capacities of the readership. For instance, it will often be best to post plain text versions, without elaborate images or formats, so that they can be more readily downloaded by people with poor Internet connections. 26