UN updates global guidelines for investigating unlawful killings

APD NEWS

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The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) launched in Geneva on Wednesday updated guidelines for investigating unlawful killings around the world.

The guidelines, namely the Minnesota Protocol, make clear that investigations must be prompt, effective and thorough, as well as independent, impartial and transparent.

They also establish detailed procedures for crime-scene investigations, interviews of suspects and witnesses, the excavation of graves, post-mortem examinations, and the analysis of skeletal remains.

According to OHCHR, the Protocol is aimed at police officers, medical practitioners, lawyers, judicial officers, NGOs and others involved in investigations into killings which may be unlawful.

It applies primarily to investigations undertaken during times of peace, but also covers killings during conflict, OHCHR said.

Stressing the guidelines' significance, UN High Commissioner Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein noted that proper investigations into suspicious deaths are an integral part of the protection of the right to life.

"Investigations are the key to accountability. But all too often lives are taken with impunity because proper investigations have not been done; whether they are individual people found dead in the gutter, or an entire section of the community subject to summary executions," he noted.

He added that the revised Protocol will be an indispensable tool in ensuring effective and fair trials and other forms of accountability.

The UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard, hailed the Protocol as "an invaluable tool that will help guide investigations into suspicious deaths, ensure accountability for violations of the right to life, and bring truth, justice and reparation to the families of victims."

She called on police, as well as forensic and judicial officials around the world to implement the guidelines.

"The task now is to ensure that there is acceptance and compliance; my mandate stands ready to assist with training and other technical support," she said.

The original Minnesota Protocol, also known as the UN manual on the effective prevention and investigation of extra-legal arbitrary and summary executions, was launched by the UN in 1991.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)