A/HRC/12/19 page 3 I. INTRODUCTION 1. In its resolution 9/11, the Human Rights Council requested the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a comprehensive study, to be presented to the Council at its twelfth session, on best practices for the effective implementation of the right to the truth, including, in particular, practices relating to archives and records concerning gross violations of human rights, and programmes for the protection of witnesses and other persons involved in trials connected with such violations. 2. The implementation of the right to the truth can only be effectively achieved when victims of human rights violations are able to assert their rights and can start the process of dealing with their past. The protection of archives and records concerning gross human rights violations, and the protection of witnesses and other persons involved in trials related to such violations are mutually reinforcing elements that are essential to ensuring the effective implementation of the right to the truth. 3. This report contains a study, carried out by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the two topics as identified in paragraph 9 of resolution 9/11. The first part of the report covers the practices relating to archives and records concerning gross violations of human rights. The second part of the report deals with programmes for the protection of witnesses and other persons involved in trials connected with such violations. II. PRACTICES FOR THE EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RIGHT TO THE TRUTH, INCLUDING PRACTICES RELATING TO ARCHIVES AND RECORDS CONCERNING GROSS VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS A. Background 4. When a period characterized by widespread or systematic human rights abuses comes to an end, people who suffered under the old regime find themselves able to assert their rights and to begin dealing with their past. As they exercise their newly freed voices, they are likely to make four types of demands of the transitional State, namely demands for truth, justice, reparations and institutional reforms to prevent a recurrence of violence. Each of these demands relies on the availability of archives. 5. The recognition that archives and archivists play a central role in undergirding human rights has grown over the last decade. A key event was the adoption in 1997 by the Commission on Human Rights of the Set of Principles for the protection and promotion of human rights through action to combat impunity (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1997/20/Rev.1, annex II). Pursuant to Commission resolution 2004/72, the Principles were updated in 2005 (E/CN.4/2005/102/Add.1). The Principles emphasize that a person has a right to know the truth about what happened to him/her and that society as a whole has both a right to know and a responsibility to remember. As part of the measures a State must undertake to protect the right to know, the Principles require the State to “ensure the preservation of, and access to, archives concerning violations of human rights and humanitarian law” (ibid., principle 5).