A/76/168 and reliance on interrogation techniques heavily based on coercion and intimidation. Deficiencies frequently arise in the handling of complaints, notably a lack of information about complaints procedures, undue delays and significant shortcomings in the investigation of complaints, lack of independence or impartiality of the officials comprising the relevant complaints body or inadequate protection against reprisals and intimidation. Investigatory mechanisms are often underresourced, underequipped and/or undertrained, leading to poor investigative procedures and outcomes. F. Barriers to victim participation 59. It is also widely observed that legal processes, including investigatory and judicial procedures and, notably, the criminal legal process, can present serious barriers to meaningful participation by victims of torture and ill -treatment, who may suffer from grave psychological trauma. For instance, victims of sexual violence are often reluctant to disclose their experience even in therapeutic settings, yet they may have to or be expected to do so in interviews with investigators or judges, who may interview them only a single time and base charging and judicial decisions solely on such interviews. Similarly, the effects of trauma on memory and recall and the provision of testimony are not widely understood, and key actors within investigatory and judicial procedures often have unrealistic expectations about what details victims should be able to recall and how they should tell their story. For example, judges often find a flat affect, which may signal dissociation, to lack credibility, or they may incorrectly associate inconsistencies in minor details with lying. The doubting of victims’ testimony in such circumstances not only denies victims the possibility of effective redress but can traumatize them further and cause revictimization. 60. There are other reasons why survivors are unwilling or unable to report their experiences to the criminal justice system, including mistrust of State authorities, fear of reprisals and perceptions that legal accountability is slow and often unsuccessful or unresponsive to survivors’ immediate needs such as safety and material support. These de facto barriers to victim participation are very difficult to alleviate, and require meaningful structural reform. G. The long shadow of impunity 61. As experts on the phenomenon of torture and ill-treatment have observed, States’ contemporary practice of, and involvement in, such abuse is deeply rooted in historical practices of torture and ill-treatment and the conditions that enabled them, notably in colonial contexts. 54 A failure to fully account for the historical wrongdoing and injustices that shape present abuse is a key part of the symbiotic relationship between past and present torture. This insight is transposable to the continuum of torture and ill-treatment without accountability across the world and across history. The evasion of accountability connects past, present and future practices of torture and ill-treatment. A refusal or failure to acknowledge and address past torture and ill treatment shapes present tolerance for such practices and drives future practices of torture, ill-treatment and further evasion of accountability. No lessons are learned, no reparations are made and no guarantees of non-repetition are offered. __________________ 54 21-09914 Blakeley and Raphael, “Accountability, denial and the future-proofing of British torture”, p. 692. 19/23