HPCR Practitioner's Handbook on Monitoring, Reporting, and Fact-Finding Investigating International Law Violations

This book offers a portrait of the practice of monitoring, reporting, and fact-finding in the domain of human rights, international humanitarian law, and international criminal law. By analyzing the experiences of fifteen missions implemented over the course of the past decade, the book illuminates the key issues that these missions face and offers a roadmap for practitioners working on future missions. This book is the result of a five-year research study led by the Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research at Harvard University, Massachusetts. Based on extensive interviews conducted with fact-finding practitioners, this book consists of two parts. Part I offers a handbook that details methodological considerations for the design and implementation of fact-finding missions and commissions of inquiry. Part II - which consists of chapters written by scholars and practitioners - presents a more in-depth, scholarly examination of past fact-finding practices.

Preface Philippe Kirsch; Introduction Claude Bruderlein; Part I. HPCR Advanced Practitioner's Handbook on Commissions of Inquiry; Section 1. Mandate Interpretation; Section 2; Establishing Facts and Applying the Law; Section 3. Protection of Witnesses and Victims; Section 4. Public Communication; Section 5. Report Drafting; Part II. Selected Writings on Monitoring, Reporting, and Fact-Finding: 1. On the hybrid nature of monitoring, reporting, and fact-finding missions Rob Grace; 2. Selecting and applying legal lenses in fact-finding work Théo Boutruche; 3. Finding the facts: standards of proof and information handling in monitoring, reporting, and fact-finding missions Stephen Wilkinson; 4. Protecting witnesses, victims, and staff: sources and implications of professional responsibilities Cynthia Petrigh; 5. Professional dilemmas in public communication and report drafting Luc Côté and Rob Grace; 6. An analysis of the impact of commissions of inquiry Rob Grace; Appendix A. HPCR group of professionals on monitoring, reporting, and fact-finding; Appendix B. Selected missions.

Rob Grace is a Senior Associate at the Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research (HPCR) at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. In this role, he leads research projects on international law and humanitarian action. His writing on international law and foreign policy has been published by the Journal of Conflict and Security Law, the European Society of International Law Reflections, Foreign Policy in Focus, the Foreign Policy Association, and Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection. He holds an M.A. in Politics from New York University and a B.A. from Vassar College, New York.
Claude Bruderlein is Strategic Advisor to the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and holds an adjunct faculty appointment at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Massachusetts. As a Swiss lawyer, Mr Bruderlein has worked in humanitarian protection with the ICRC in the Middle East for several years, as well as in Geneva as a legal advisor. In 1996, he joined the United Nations as Special Advisor to the Secretary General on Humanitarian Affairs. He worked particularly on humanitarian access in Afghanistan and North Korea.