Ms Dearbhla Minogue (Global Legal Action Network)

The fair and successful prosecution of atrocity crimes requires reliable evidence establishing not only that an event took place but that a specific perpetrator was individually criminally responsible. Efforts to prosecute such atrocity crimes can be hampered by the absence of such evidence, for example where official investigators cannot reach a given location promptly, where witnesses’ memories fade and change, or when there is simply not enough first-hand evidence. Even as universal jurisdiction prosecutions proceed and the international criminal court widens its caseload, perpetrators’ reliance on impunity seems to prevail, with fresh atrocities taking place regularly.

Meanwhile, the advent of social media and smartphones has combined to result in an unprecedented volume of online videos, and inevitably some of those videos can evidence key aspects of alleged atrocity crimes. However, courts are unused to dealing with digital evidence whose origins are unknown, and there is a significant risk that the full potential for this content to be harnessed for legal and accountability purposes could be missed or delayed, especially if the information is deemed unreliable or inadmissible.

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