A/HRC/29/37 or even the availability of facts. Individuals commit violations of the right to life not because they believe it is justifiable, but because they believe they will not be called on to justify themselves. That places a premium on fact-finding and evidence. 36. Because of the expertise that fact-finding requires, the development of human rights methodologies has hitherto gone hand in hand with the professionalization of human rights.3 It has evolved over what has been characterized as three generations of communities involved in international human rights monitoring, each with its own methods. First, there was the systematic review of available information by a distinguished group of lawyers on behalf of intergovernmental organizations; second, came the factfinding revolution, led by large international human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs), that dramatically broadened the field but remained attached to witness interviewing, which offers first-hand and very detailed accounting, but which can be very time consuming and vulnerable to interference and selection biases. Over time, the methodology of the second generation was incorporated into the practices of the first generation, including the special procedures of the Human Rights Council. Now, however, the field is being transformed again by a diverse and growing array of digitally enabled actors — the third generation —, including witnesses, monitors and activists, characterized by greater flexibility of fact-finding methodology and output. 4 Each generation has broadened the base of those who participate in human rights investigations. No generation has invalidated earlier work, but it is important that each is able to draw on the strengths of the others without compromising its own capacities. 37. It has become clear that information and communications technologies (ICTs) — the hardware and software that facilitate the production, transmission, reception, archiving and storage of information — can play an increasing role in the protection of all human rights, including the right to life. Information harnessed in this way can be used to secure accountability, but the technology can also ensure visibility or mobilize support for persons in immediate danger. 38. In his daily work of identifying and assessing claims about unlawful killings, the Special Rapporteur, like many others in the field, is increasingly dependent on information mediated through technology. See, for example, the use of video material taken with cell phones during the civil war in Sri Lanka to press both the State and the international community for fuller investigation of the widespread violations of many human rights, including the right to life, alleged to have occurred (A/HRC/17/28/Add.1). Similarly, in preparing the report to the Human Rights Council on the safety of journalists, it became clear how salient citizen journalists and civic media had become through their use of technology to highlight and document violations around the world (A/HRC/20/22 and Corr.1). 39. Increasing digital capacity is greatly enhancing the ability of ordinary people to participate in human rights monitoring. Digital ICTs create opportunities for pluralism that can democratize the process of human rights fact-finding, as well as offer mechanisms of social accountability that citizens can use to hold States and others to account.5 Social media have created a wealth of opportunities for civilians to highlight human rights violations that they have witnessed, often unmediated by formal intergovernmental or nongovernmental structures. This has far-reaching implications for the established power 3 4 5 6 Molly K. Land, “Networked activism”, Harvard Human Rights Journal, vol. 22 (2009), pp. 205–43. Philip Alston “Introduction: third generation human rights fact-finding”, Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law, vol. 107 (April 2013), pp. 61–62. Molly K. Land and others, #ICT4HR: Information and Communication Technologies for Human Rights (World Bank Institute, 2012).