Previous 19 / 146 Next

advised to follow the ethical principles and practical guidelines in this Handbook. 1.4.3 Unofficial v. Untrained The word “unofficial” to characterize the “investigations” and “investigators” in this Handbook was also carefully selected over the word “untrained” because “untrained” might misrepresent the experience of some individuals engaged with documentation. Whereas in many contexts it is fair to assume that documenters will be untrained, in an increasing amount of contexts these actors are either receiving relevant training (the appropriateness/quality of said trainings may vary), and, more importantly, are often highly skilled professionals in the functions they are there for primarily. In Syria, for example, many actors documenting human rights violations are doctors, lawyers, and local judges. While they are not representative of the majority of documenters everywhere, the word “untrained” seemed unsuitable. Instead, the Handbook opts for the term “unofficial” which characterizes the nature of these investigative and documentary efforts rather than the qualifications of the person involved. 1.4.4 Information v. Evidence The Handbook often uses the word “information” about serious human rights violations rather than “evidence” in the spirit of managing expectations (see for more on management of expectations, Section 2.1.7). It is important to realize that what is collected by unofficial investigators, even if by the standards presented in this Handbook, will not often find its way into the proceedings in a court of law directly, although it may still be essential to a case in more indirect ways. This distinction between information and evidence, however, does not imply that lesser standards apply with regard to its relevance, credibility, reliability, and accuracy, which are also crucial in non-criminal law or non-judicial processes. Therefore, quality assurance is a matter of good practice as it will enable the use of the information in a variety of situations. Accordingly, even if information does not become evidence, it may nevertheless, if properly collected, serve as a “lead,” assisting investigators and enabling them to identify, locate and obtain information that may serve as evidence. 2 2 Marie Nystedt (Ed.), Christian Axboe Nielsen, Jann F. Kleffner, A Handbook On Assisting International Criminal Investigations, THE FOLKE BERNADOTTE ACADEMY, 54 (2011), available at 17

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