The Ten-Year Revolution

This article reviews the evolution of the role of civil society documentation efforts in international justice proceedings since 2013 circa. It is written from my personal perspective by virtue of my involvement in a series of initiatives aimed to strengthen civil society’s (as well as other international justice actors’) documentation efforts through the collection of standards and best practices, which the essay also discusses. In particular, it reviews the process and challenges of setting forth the first comprehensive guidance and set of best practices for civil society documentation with the Public International Law and Policy Group’s ‘Handbook on Civil Society Documentation of Serious Human Rights Violations’. It argues that civil society documentation efforts have undergone a revolution within the field: from the margins to the very heart of international judicial proceedings upholding accountability for international crimes. This revolution was, in part, rendered possible by a changing documentation landscape and the proliferation of documentation resources and capabilities now readily available to the civil society. After reviewing the current state of play with respect to documentary efforts and documentation best practices, which I situate within the context of a broader evolution of the international justice ‘ecosystem’, the article addresses some ongoing challenges in documentation and areas that would benefit of further strengthening in the future.