Increasingly, civil society actors engage in documentation and investigation processes, seeking to collect evidence against those responsible for serious human rights violations. PILPG’s Handbook on Civil Society Documentation of Serious Human Rights Violations provides principles, 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 a manner that preserves confidentiality, security and probative value, with an eye to possible use in later redress processes. The Public International Law & Policy Group, a 2005 Nobel Peace Prize nominee, operates as a non-profit, global pro bono law firm providing free legal assistance to its clients, which include governments, sub-state entities, and civil society groups worldwide. For more information on PILPG and the online freely accessible Handbook and additional materials, please visit our website: www.publicinternationallawandpolicygroup.org