A/HRC/12/19page 3
I. INTRODUCTION
1. In its resolution 9/11, the Human Rights Council requested the Office of theUnited Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a comprehensive study, to bepresented to the Council at its twelfth session, on best practices for the effective implementationof the right to the truth, including, in particular, practices relating to archives and recordsconcerning gross violations of human rights, and programmes for the protection of witnessesand other persons involved in trials connected with such violations.2. The implementation of the right to the truth can only be effectively achieved when victimsof human rights violations are able to assert their rights and can start the process of dealing withtheir past. The protection of archives and records concerning gross human rights violations, andthe protection of witnesses and other persons involved in trials related to such violations aremutually reinforcing elements that are essential to ensuring the effective implementation of theright to the truth.3. This report contains a study, carried out by the Office of the High Commissioner forHuman Rights (OHCHR) on the two topics as identified in paragraph 9 of resolution 9/11. Thefirst part of the report covers the practices relating to archives and records concerning grossviolations of human rights. The second part of the report deals with programmes for theprotection of witnesses and other persons involved in trials connected with such violations.
II. PRACTICES FOR THE EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OFTHE RIGHT TO THE TRUTH, INCLUDING PRACTICESRELATING TO ARCHIVES AND RECORDS CONCERNINGGROSS VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTSA. Background
4. When a period characterized by widespread or systematic human rights abuses comes to anend, people who suffered under the old regime find themselves able to assert their rights and tobegin dealing with their past. As they exercise their newly freed voices, they are likely to makefour types of demands of the transitional State, namely demands for truth, justice, reparationsand institutional reforms to prevent a recurrence of violence. Each of these demands relies on theavailability of archives.5. The recognition that archives and archivists play a central role in undergirding humanrights has grown over the last decade. A key event was the adoption in 1997 by the Commissionon Human Rights of the Set of Principles for the protection and promotion of human rightsthrough action to combat impunity (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1997/20/Rev.1, annex II). Pursuant toCommission resolution 2004/72, the Principles were updated in 2005 (E/CN.4/2005/102/Add.1).The Principles emphasize that a person has a right to know the truth about what happened tohim/her and that society as a whole has both a right to know and a responsibility to remember.As part of the measures a State must undertake to protect the right to know, the Principlesrequire the State to “ensure the preservation of, and access to, archives concerning violations of human rights and humanitarian law” (ibid., principle 5).
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