A/HRC/27/56
victim participation at the domestic level, and the lack of comprehensive studies in
this area.
117. The Special Rapporteur stresses that victim and witness protection is a
precondition for justice.
Recommendations
118.
On the basis of these conclusions, the Special Rapporteur:
(a)
Urges Member States to meet their duty to investigate and prosecute
violations of human rights and humanitarian law which constitute crimes under
national or international law;
(b)
Urges States to refrain from adopting, and intergovernmental
organizations to refrain from supporting, amnesties for genocide, war crimes, crimes
against humanity and other gross violations of human rights or other serious
violations of international humanitarian law;
(c)
Encourages States to enact legislation with extraterritorial effect for
gross violations of human rights and serious violations of international humanitarian
law, and calls on those States with universal jurisdiction not to backtrack on their
accomplishments;
(d)
Urges Member States to refrain from using the principle of
complementarity as a “licence for minimalism” which increases, rather than closes the
impunity gap;
(e)
Calls for the adoption of prioritizing strategies as a “focalizing” tool and
a means to strengthen accountability;
(f)
Encourages those developing a prosecutorial strategy to carefully
consider different elements of prioritization, taking into account the consequences and
implications of certain choices, and to design a strategy, with the effective
participation of victims, with a view to maximizing accountability;
(g)
Stresses that strategies for prosecutions should be particularly concerned
with the systemic and/or structural dimensions of massive violations, patterns of
violations, the identification of chains of command, and other supporting players and
arrangements. The aim of prioritization strategies should be directed at disabling the
web of actors and structures that enabled the various actors to jointly make the
violations happen;
(h)
Urges States to adopt and implement broader institutional and
socioeconomic reforms which go hand in hand with prosecutions, and complement
and reinforce each other.
(i)
Emphasizes that designing a prosecutorial strategy is an important first
step, but needs to be complemented with the willingness to implement such a strategy;
(j)
Calls on States to adopt all necessary measures, including constitutional
and legislative changes, to protect effectively the independence and impartiality of
prosecutors;
(k)
Urges authorities to refrain from reprisals against prosecutors for their
independent and impartial efforts to bring perpetrators of mass violations to justice;
22
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