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• Establish and maintain, when possible, a good relationship with local, state, and/or federal law enforcement and emergency service providers as well as political officials. • Work with people that can be trusted. • Educate family and friends about risk-prevention. • Be fit, alert, and stay sober. • When possible, travel with at least one companion, and avoid secluded places. • Identify and practice different routes by which you can drive between the office and home. • Go underground if in danger,49 or seek refuge at a police station, embassy or other safe location. 2.2.3 Determining the Trustworthiness of Other Actors It is important to establish the trustworthiness of anyone who may influence the outcome of the information-gathering exercise. This includes: • Local authorities and police chiefs; • Other actors in the area; • Team members (including interpreters and intermediaries); and • Victims and witnesses (including pattern witnesses, such as field workers, researchers, journalists and international observers). Trustworthiness of Local Authorities and Police Chiefs • Research whether local authorities (including police chiefs) have been implicated in previous human rights violations. • Research whether they may to be corrupt. Use reliable sources, such as commissions of investigation, who work independently from the government and are required to publicize their reports. • Research local authorities’ responses to human rights abuses in the past. Look in particular at whether there was a thorough, competent, prompt and impartial investigation, an autopsy with public results, whether any agencies or suspects have been held to account and whether reparations have been provided to victims (see Section 3.3.3 on Human Bodies). 49 One may for instance establish safe places where to go in case of danger. In addition, one can also establish “security nets” of different persons who will help you during such periods. See Amnesty International and CODESRIA, Ukweli. Monitoring and Documenting Human Rights Violations in Africa: A Handbook, 60 (2000), available at https://www.amnesty.nl/sites/default/files/public/ukw_eng.pdf. 45

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

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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.

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PILPG_Handbook_on_Civil_Society_Documentation_of_Serious_Human_Rights_Violations_Sept_2016_tcm289-785328.pdf
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PILPG Handbook on Civil Society Documentation of Serious Human Rights Violations Sept 2016

Primary Documents

Verification Handbook

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