A/HRC/18/23 60. In this context, mediators and others involved in peace negotiations should be aware of the impact of DDR and transitional justice processes on one another. Integrating transitional justice and DDR into training modules for mediators would ensure an initial understanding of transitional justice processes and challenges involved in disarming, demobilizing and reintegrating ex-combatants and associated groups. Victims and civil society actors should also have a role in peace negotiations which allows them to articulate demands for accountability, truth and reparations. 2. Criminal investigations and prosecutions 61. Criminal investigations and prosecutions have important potential connections with DDR programmes. Information gathered through DDR processes can be useful to criminal investigations and prosecutions. Information does not need to be individualized nor require the disclosure of identities. For example, general and contextual information related to location, composition and structure of certain armed groups, their level of organization and hierarchy, type of activities engaged in, or demographics of combatants within particular groups or their weaponry can provide important assistance in the context of criminal investigations and prosecutions. Information gathered through DDR programmes can also be important in corroborating other evidence gathered. Early information sharing about the DDR process itself may also be useful in the context of investigations, for example, by providing leads as to possible witnesses. In all cases of information sharing, there must be transparency about the ways in which information shared will be used. 62. Prosecution initiatives can also support DDR processes. By individualizing the guilt of specific perpetrators, prosecution initiatives may distinguish perpetrators of violations of international humanitarian law or human rights law from other ex-combatants, thereby lessening public perception that all ex-combatants are guilty of serious violations. Prosecution initiatives can also contribute to DDR by removing spoilers, such as uncooperative commanders, from the DDR process. The issuing of an arrest warrant can itself isolate and contribute to the marginalization of such spoilers, and thereby removing them from the DDR process. Prosecution initiatives may also act as incentives for parties in other conflict situations to engage in DDR and to release child soldiers, for instance. 63. When the processes overlap, the pursuit of accountability through prosecutions can also create tensions with DDR efforts, as DDR requires the cooperation of ex-combatants and their leaders, while prosecutions aim to hold those responsible for serious violations of international law accountable. Despite these concerns, in a number of contexts, DDR programmes have coexisted with prosecutorial efforts, without prosecutions impeding the DDR process. Possible tensions can be minimized through effective communication and sensitization or outreach, including about the objectives of the prosecution strategy, and coordination between DDR practitioners and prosecutors on issues of timing. 3. Truth-seeking processes 64. Truth-seeking processes can reinforce DDR programmes, including by assisting in the process of reconciliation and contributing to stability. Truth processes may assist in the reintegration of ex-combatants by affording them the opportunity to reveal their experiences of the conflict and to apologize. Allowing ex-combatants to tell their own stories of victimization may break down rigid representations of combatants and victims, thereby assisting reconciliation. Testifying may also be of psychological benefit for the individual ex-combatant involved, assisting their personal reintegration. Truth processes can also play a more direct role in reintegration by, for example, including a process of community reconciliation for those involved in “less serious crimes”. 65. Truth-seeking processes and DDR programmes also have significant potential for information exchange. Information collected by DDR processes may be very useful to 16