A. From lists to dossiers
Many recent investigative bodies have created “lists” of individuals believed to be
responsible for violations and crimes.164 Nevertheless, practice has been moving
away from lists in the strict sense, as investigative bodies seek to provide as full
a picture as possible of the implicated individuals. A more effective approach is
to produce something akin to a “dossier”, the aim being a product that might
eventually be shared confidentially, after consideration of all the factors set out in this
guidance. It is strongly recommended that investigative bodies generate shareable
dossiers before the close of the investigation.
1. Dossiers
Dossiers differ from a mere list of individuals as the former include, at a minimum,
the information on hand with respect to identified individuals, as well as summaries
of each incident in which she or he is believed to be implicated.165 Dossiers should
exclude information allowing the identification of victims, witnesses and other
sources, although they should still contain coded links allowing the investigative
body or the custodian to identify the requisite sources. Where time and resources
permit, dossiers may include information about the individual’s professional history,
rank, role(s), statements made, physical characteristics, biodata, family ties, and so
on (see “Information to include”, below).
At the end of the investigation the dossiers must be labelled, appropriately classified,
and preserved in the investigation’s archives.
Between 2005 and 2017, eight CoIs created files on individual perpetrators which were handed over to
OHCHR, either as “confidential lists” for the Secretary-General’s or High Commissioner’s safekeeping,
or together with the other materials/dossiers in a database that identified individuals: Darfur (2005),
Democratic Republic of the Congo Mapping (2010), Libya (2011), Côte d’Ivoire (2011), Syria (multiple),
Central African Republic (2014), Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (2014) and Sri Lanka (2015)
(10 cases). See Guidance and Practice, section II, “Mandates”, pp. 13-14. Note that nearly all the
investigations named entities or units in their public reports; this count includes only the CoIs that recorded
the names of implicated individuals.
165
Information from the “actor map” (see section 3 C 1 (b), supra) should be included in the dossier.
164
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ATTRIBUTING INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY
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