Previous 103 / 146 Next

o Rather than providing two options, ask the interview to describe the height of the other person. • Did that scare you? o Such a question frames the situation and leads the interviewee in a certain direction. Instead, ask how that made the victim/witness feel. • Would you say this happened often? o Whether something occurs “often” depends on the one’s subjective view on what is often. Instead, ask how often something occurred. Interviewers should allow the narrative to flow freely from the victim/witness, and ask primarily open-ended questions. “How do you know” or “What led you to that conclusion” are good questions to allow the interviewee to elaborate without leading in any particular direction. What specific questions should be raised depends on the circumstances and type of violation that has occurred. Section 3.5 raises some specific information and questions relating to victims/witnesses of sexual and gender-based violence. In general, however, the following are a number of questions that can be used in many situations: • What is your full name, aliases/nicknames, date of birth/age, religion, ethnicity, marital status and children, languages spoken and written, education level, current and former occupations, current residence, contact information? • How long ago did the events you witnessed/experienced happen? (If unable to recall, what other events were happening at the time?) • Could you describe what these people did (to you)? Do you recall where or when this happened? • Did the events you just described occur more than once? • Do you recall what any of the people, vehicles and premises looked like? Could you describe them? • If this is not too difficult for you, do you recall whether these people used weapons or other objects to do what they did? • Do you recall whether these people said anything? Could you repeat what they said? Do you recall in what language they spoke? • Could you describe what happened after the event? Were you taken anywhere? If so, do you remember where you were taken and for how long? 101

Select target paragraph3

● ● ●

PILPG Handbook on Civil Society Documentation of Serious Human Rights Violations Sept 2016

Document

Documentation Purpose

Perpetrator-centred documentation

Topic(s)

Data/Information Strategy
Preservation and Archiving
Verification

Type

Guide

Description: Increasingly, civil society actors engage in documentation and investigation processes, seeking to collect evidence against those responsible for serious human rights violations. The purpose of this Handbook is to provide guidelines and best practices for the collection and management of information on serious human rights situations for those that are not professionally trained in such documentation practices. While the Handbook strongly emphasizes the need to refrain from investigating human rights abuses and to refer to professionals, practice shows that this is not always possible. Only under such circumstances and as a last resort may civil society actors consider engaging in certain documentation practices and not in others, always seeking to include professionals when and where possible. They may however only do so by adhering to the ethical principles and documentation guidelines that are provided in this Handbook. These enable unofficial investigators to do no harm, identify security risks, preserve crime scenes, prevent the loss of evidence, and manage the information in manner that preserves confidentiality, security and probative value, with an eye to possible use in later redress processes and without jeopardizing the future work of professionally trained and officially appointed investigators.

Primary Documents

PILPG_Handbook_on_Civil_Society_Documentation_of_Serious_Human_Rights_Violations_Sept_2016_tcm289-785328.pdf
English
Download View

Doc Resources

Select target paragraph3

PILPG Handbook on Civil Society Documentation of Serious Human Rights Violations Sept 2016

Primary Documents

Verification Handbook

Notifications