A/HRC/18/25
strengthen the principles on combating impunity, particularly those relating to the right to
know and the responsibility of States to guarantee access to information. In this regard, it
recommends that the proposed document maintain a link between forensic anthropology
practices and each of the pillars of the principles for combating impunity.
36.
The Government of Ukraine provided detailed information on various State
activities undertaken to continue to further the fulfilment of its international human rights
obligations and the implementation of mechanisms for monitoring conduct by State
agencies, with particular reference to activities in the criminal justice area.
37.
EAAF stated that in 1998 it had commenced building a genetic databank of relatives
of disappeared people in Argentina. In 2007, it began collaboration with national
institutions on the databank, and entered into an agreement with the Ministry of Health and
the National Memory Archive of the National Secretary of Human Rights which created the
Archive of blood samples from relatives of victims of forced disappearance between 1974
and 1983, established standard operational procedures, including technical and bioethical
guidelines, for the collection, shipment and storage of blood samples and traceability, and
created a tripartite coordination commission for the purpose of implementing the
agreement.
38.
EAAF noted that forensic genetics has a vital role to play in identifying the remains
of victims of human rights violations or persons missing as a result of conflict. Creating
genetic databanks is crucial to conducting large-scale identification projects. EAAF
welcomed the initiative of the Government of Argentina in support of the use of forensic
genetics for the identification of victims of human rights and international humanitarian law
violations. However, it noted that in light of the “complexity, controversies and byproducts” that may arise in the establishment of genetics databanks, it strongly supports the
holding of an international symposium to discuss best practices and the adoption of a
protocol or guidelines for the establishment of such databanks. In this regard, EAAF
provided a number of considerations for a symposium, which are fully reflected in the 2010
OHCHR report.
39.
Referring to the Geneva Conventions, Additional Protocol I, and the Convention on
the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the ICRC noted that the
obligation to investigate crimes under international law is found in a number of treaties that
apply to acts committed in both international and non-international armed conflicts. It also
noted that international humanitarian law contains treaty and customary law provisions
dealing with various aspects related to the dead, and that the obligation to identify the dead
is an obligation of means, such that parties to a conflict must use their best efforts and all
means at their disposal. Current practice suggests that exhumation combined with the
application of forensic methods, including DNA testing, may be an appropriate method of
identifying the dead after burial. In this regard, the ICRC continues to actively promote the
development, dissemination and implementation of best practices in forensic sciences,
including forensic genetics, applied to the identification of human remains. 34
40.
The ICMP noted that States are not currently obliged under international law to use
forensic genetics when investigating gross violations of human rights law and serious
34
In this regard, ICRC noted the recommendations from the International Conference of Governmental
and Non-Governmental Experts on the Missing and Their Families (2003); see also ICRC, Missing
people, DNA analysis and identification of human remains: A guide to best practice in armed
conflicts and other situations of armed conflict (2009); Guiding principles/Model law on the missing,
Principles for legislating the situation of persons missing as a result of armed conflict or internal
violence: Measures to prevent persons from going missing and to protect the rights and interests of
the missing and their families (2009).
13
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