In the midst of a growing attention for issues related to historical injustices, several governments around the world have established historical commissions to inquire into their colonial pasts, explicitly or implicitly framing their work within the rhetoric of transitional justice. Nevertheless, it is not always clear to what extent the adoption of the transitional justice logic and rhetoric by these commissions also means that they inscribe themselves in the broader normative objectives of transitional justice.  Notably – as Prof. Tine Destrooper and Dr. Cira Palli-Aspero, from the Human Rights Center at Ghent University, argue in this blog post – the question about accountability often remains implicit. When legal or criminal accountability are not possible or desirable, are there complementary forms of accountability that should be considered?