A/HRC/18/23 including with regard to conceptual and analytical work regarding transitional justice, and to assist States, with their consent, to design, establish and implement transitional justice mechanisms from a human rights perspective” (para. 20). 5. In order to build the long-term institutional capacity of United Nations field presences, transitional administrations and civil society to respond to transitional justice demands, OHCHR has been producing the Rule-of-Law Tools for Post-Conflict States.3 The tools are grounded in international human rights law and contain lessons learned and best practices from United Nations field operations. In 2010, OHCHR published the Tool on National consultations on transitional justice, emphasizing that a comprehensive process of national consultations is a crucial element for effective and sustainable transitional justice strategies. It identifies the main applicable human rights instruments, discusses the focus and form of consultations and considers various issues important for their conduct, as well as reporting and follow-up. 6. OHCHR also led the process of elaboration of the Guidance note of the SecretaryGeneral: United Nations approach to transitional justice, published in March 2010. The guidance note provides a rights-based perspective on transitional justice and offers three approaches for further strengthening the transitional justice activities of the United Nations, including: (1) striving to take into account the root causes of conflict or repressive rule, and address the related violations of all rights, including economic, social and cultural rights; (2) taking human rights and transitional justice considerations into account during peace processes; and (3) coordinating disarmament, demobilization and reintegration initiatives with transitional justice processes in a positively reinforcing manner. 7. OHCHR has been exploring and developing additional areas related to transitional justice, taking into account the needs of United Nations field presences and emerging international legal developments. In follow up to the Secretary-General’s guidance note, and in order to address this emerging issue, OHCHR organized the Expert Workshop on Experiences of Transitional Justice Processes in Dealing with Violations of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Geneva in October 2010. The workshop considered various experiences and assessed more comprehensively the potential of transitional justice mechanisms and processes for dealing with violations of economic, social and cultural rights, as well as challenges in this regard. In follow-up, OHCHR is currently developing a special issues paper on this topic. 8. OHCHR has also been exploring the linkages between DDR processes and transitional justice. In 2009, the Inter-Agency Working Group on DDR published the module, “Transitional Justice and DDR”4 as part of the Integrated Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Standards (IDDRS), the United Nations-wide guidance on DDR. The module was developed by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and OHCHR, in cooperation with the International Center for Transitional Justice. Building on the IDDRS module and the Secretary-General’s guidance note, OHCHR organized in December 2010 the Expert Workshop on Maximizing Opportunities for Coordination between DDR Initiatives and Transitional Justice Processes. The workshop assessed selected experiences of DDR initiatives as they relate to transitional justice processes, and further identified lessons learned in this context.5 3 4 5 See OHCHR, Rule-of-Law Tools for Post-Conflict States: Truth commissions; Prosecution initiatives; Maximizing the legacy of hybrid tribunals; Vetting; Reparations programmes; Mapping the justice sector; Legal systems monitoring; Amnesties. See IDDRS, module 6.20, Transitional Justice and DDR, sect. 8.3, box 7 - Action points for DDR and TJ practitioners. See section B of this report for an analysis of the relationship between DDR and transitional justice. 5