Putting Survivors First: A New Way to Seek Justice

A Significant Step in 2025

In May 2025, the International Accountability Platform for Belarus (IAPB) released a groundbreaking practice note titled:

"A Survivor-Centred Approach to Documentation for Criminal Accountability."

This guide is a major milestone as it prioritizes the needs, safety, and rights of survivors while documenting human rights violations.

A Collaborative Effort

The note is the result of years of work and consultations with:

• Survivors
• NGOs
• International bodies

It provides a detailed process for documenting violations, emphasizing principles like:

• "Do no harm"
• Informed consent

This approach is critical in regions where governments fail or refuse to investigate torture.

A Growing Trend

The guide is part of a wider movement towards survivor-centred justice. It responds to a long history of survivor-led organizations documenting torture.

By putting survivors first, this approach aims to make the documentation process:

• Safer
• More effective