A/HRC/RES/21/7
7.
Calls upon States to work in cooperation with the Special Rapporteur on the
promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence in accordance with
his mandate, including by extending invitations to the Special Rapporteur;
8.
Welcomes the entry into force of the International Convention for the
Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, and encourages all States that have
not yet signed, ratified or acceded to the Convention to consider doing so;
9.
Takes note with appreciation of the report of the Office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights on the right to the truth7 and, in accordance with its
conclusions, calls upon all States to consider developing comprehensive witness protection
programmes covering all types of crimes, including gross human rights violations and
serious violations of international humanitarian law;
10.
Also takes note with appreciation of the report of the Office of the High
Commissioner on the seminar on experience of archives as a means to guarantee the right to
the truth,8 which outlined the importance of archives to the ability of victims to realize their
right to the truth, to judicial accountability and non-judicial truth-seeking processes, and for
reparations, and, in accordance with its concluding observations, encourages States that
have not yet done so to establish a national archival policy that ensures that all archives
pertaining to human rights are preserved and protected, and to enact legislation that
declares that the nation’s documentary heritage is to be retained and preserved, and creates
the framework for managing State records from their creation to destruction or
preservation;
11.
Requests the Office of the High Commissioner to invite, from within existing
resources, Member States, United Nations organs, intergovernmental organizations,
national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations to provide
information on good practices in the establishment, preservation and provision of access to
national archives on human rights, and to make the information received publically
available in an online database;
12.
Invites special procedures and other mechanisms of the Human Rights
Council, in the framework of their mandates, to take into account, as appropriate, the issue
of the right to the truth;
13.
Decides to consider this matter at its twenty-seventh session under the same
agenda item or at the corresponding session in conformity with its annual programme of
work.
36th meeting
27 September 2012
[Adopted without a vote.]
7
8
4
A/HRC/15/33.
A/HRC/17/21.
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents