A/HRC/18/25 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 15/5, the Human Rights Council requested the High Commissioner for Human Rights to submit a report on the obligation of States to investigate serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in accordance with their international legal commitments in terms of identifying victims of such violations, including through the use of forensic genetics, which a view to considering further the possibility of drafting a manual that may serve as a guide for the most effective application of forensic genetics, including, where appropriate, the voluntary creation and operation of genetic banks, with the proper safeguards. The present report is submitted pursuant to this request. It sets out the international and regional laws in respect of the obligation of States to investigate gross violations of human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law. It then draws on the contributions received from States in response to a note verbale transmitted by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR),1 as well as those received from the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), to present State law and practice regarding the use of forensic genetics in the context of the obligation to investigate, and some developments pertaining to the creation of a manual for the application of forensic genetics and the creation and operation of genetics banks. 2. This is the second report prepared by OHCHR regarding issues pertaining to forensic genetics and human rights.2 The report considered by the Human Rights Council at its fifteenth session concluded, inter alia, that the use of forensic experts and, in particular, the use of forensic genetics and the voluntary creation of genetic databanks have a crucial role to play in identifying victims of gross violations of human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law (A/HRC/15/26, paras. 63 and 64). II. Obligation to investigate gross violations of human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law 3. Article 2, paragraph 1, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights requires States parties to ensure to all individuals within their territories and subject to their jurisdiction the rights recognized in the Covenant. In general comment No. 31, the Human Rights Committee noted that, in accordance with this provision, States parties must refrain from violating the rights recognized by the Covenant, and take positive steps to ensure that they are promoted and protected.3 In that regard, States parties must adopt laws and other measures as may be necessary to give effect to the rights.4 1 2 3 4 Responses were received from the Governments of Argentina, Bahrain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Colombia, Finland, Guatemala, Japan, Madagascar, Norway, Paraguay, Slovakia, Switzerland and Ukraine. For the relevant Human Rights Council resolutions, see in particular resolutions 9/11 (18 September 2008), 10/26 (27 March 2009) and 15/5 (29 September 2010). Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 31, paras. 5-7. Other international human rights conventions also require States to provide effective protection of rights, see Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, art. 2(c). International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 2, para. 2; also Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 31, paras. 13 and 14. 3