Background

Within the framework of Human Rights Council resolution 54/8, 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.

Objectives

In order to obtain a broad representation of views to inform the thematic report, the Special Rapporteur is seeking written contributions by Member States, civil society and other relevant stakeholders through responses to the questionnaire below.

Key questions and types of input/comments sought

You can choose to answer all or some of the questions below

1. Please indicate any relevant norms, state practice and/or jurisprudence at the national and regional level regarding the obligation to document gross violations of human rights and serious violations of international humanitarian law in transitional justice contexts?
2. Please inform about State initiatives to register, map, collect and preserve (archive) evidence, data and testimonies (including victim’s testimonies) of serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law in transitional contexts for truth-seeking, accountability and memorialization purposes, among others. How have States to date documented such violations? Which good practices, obstacles, challenges and gaps are found in State practice? Are documentary archives accessible to plaintiffs, victims and their legal representatives and what regulations govern such access?
3. Please inform about civil society initiatives to register, map, collect and preserve evidence, data and testimonies (including victim’s testimonies) of serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law in transitional contexts for truth seeking, accountability and memorialization purposes, among others. How has civil society supported documentation efforts in transitional contexts? What lessons can be learnt from these experiences? What support has civil society received from concerned States and/or donor states and institutions to carry out initiatives in this field? What obstacles has civil society faced in implementing initiatives to document human rights violations (state blockages, lack of resources, insecurity for staff conducting documentation or archiving efforts, challenges to the preservation of documentation/evidence/archives, impeded access to archives or victims, etc.)?
4. Please inform if documentation efforts are sufficiently and timely included in the design and implementation of transitional justice processes? Do concerned States, the international community, and donor institutions or donor States consider documentation mechanisms when negotiating, designing and implementing transitional justice processes. If not, which variables affect their inclusion or exclusion in these processes and how can documentation be better integrated in transitional justice from the outset.
5. How can States better integrate documentation efforts that can promote, in a complementary manner, the five pillars of transitional justice (truth, justice, reparation, memorialization and guarantees of non-recurrence) while also avoiding revictimization?

How inputs will be used?

Your responses may be published on the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Should you not wish to have your response published, please clearly indicate it in your response.