The Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, Bernard Duhaime, has decided to devote his report to the 60th session of the Human Rights Council, in September 2025, to the question of the documentation of gross violations of human rights and serious violations of international humanitarian law in the context of transitional justice processes.
In the present report, the Special Rapporteur examines legal standards, existing practices and lessons learned concerning the collection, mapping, recording, preservation and archiving of information, evidence and testimonies of gross human rights violations and
serious violations of international humanitarian law:
The comprehensive documentation of those violations is crucial for the successful implementation of transitional justice mechanisms. Adequate documentation supports positive outcomes in the implementation of truth-seeking initiatives, the search for missing persons, accountability processes, reparation programmes, memorialization efforts and guarantees of non-recurrence. Documentation carried out in the context of transitional justice processes can also further peace and reconciliation, as it helps maintain and disseminate accurate accounts of past violations, thus promoting mutual understanding and preventing possible distortions of historic facts for political reasons.
Despite the leading role of civil society organizations in the documentation of serious human rights violations, they often face serious challenges in the conduct of their work, such as lack of financial and human resources commensurate with their vast workload; the
continuous need to train new and existing staff that carry out documenting work; the insecurity inherent in the task of recording evidence and testimonies of crimes, including the risk of physical or judicial retaliation; and the lack of financial and logistical support from State actors and international donors for the work that they do. In the Russian Federation, organizations documenting human rights violations were shut down and some of their members prosecuted.
The ADC Memorial participated in the preparing of analytical material for the Special Rapporteur in cooperation with International Memorial Association, Memorial Vilnius, the Political Prisoners Support Project – Memorial.