GENEVA - The Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, Bernard Duhaime, warned today that the collection, mapping, recording, preservation and archiving of information, evidence and testimonies of gross human rights violations are still an afterthought for national and international actors engaged in transitional justice processes.
Duhaime urged them to ramp-up efforts in this area.
"Although the information generated by documentation initiatives constitutes the backbone of many transitional justice processes, they are often overlooked in the design, financing and implementation of transitional justice systems," Duhaime said in a report to the UN Human Rights Council.
"This can lead to serious failings in national processes, such as reports from truth commissions that present an incomplete depiction of the scale and breadth of human rights violations, stunted criminal investigations; reparation programmes that exclude entire categories of victims; and negationist memorialisation processes that foster division and risk the recurrence of violence," Duhaime warned.
"Inadequate documentation has negative effects across the entire transitional justice ecosystem, impairing achievements in this field," he added.
The expert highlighted serious shortcomings in the way human rights violations are documented, citing years of insufficient investment and attention to the issue.
He pointed to gaps such as poor mapping and recording of gross violations, the weak collection of victim and witness testimonies, and cases where evidence was destroyed, tampered with, or lost due to delayed documentation. Duhaime was also concerned about restricted access to archives held by States, the severe resource and capacity constraints facing those involved in documentation, and the security risks confronting both documenters as well as the victims and witnesses who share their accounts.
The Special Rapporteur called on States, the international community, and donor institutions to ensure that documentation processes are integrated as a core element of transitional justice strategies, and that material and human resources are assigned to this task.
"This should not be perceived solely as a technical exercise, but as a human rights imperative and a prerequisite for the realisation of truth, justice, reparation, and non-recurrence," he said.
The report offers concrete guidance for States, civil society partners and international actors to ensure that documentation is embedded in transitional justice processes from inception to completion.
