Special Rapporteur to study impact of new technologies, negationism, and intergenerational trauma

GENEVA (12 September 2024) – The newly appointed Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, Bernard Duhaime, said the prevalence of social media, artificial intelligence and the transmission of misinformation is exacerbating the growing global challenge of negationism and revisionism of past human rights violations.

“Denial of past violence constitutes an active human rights violation and a strong indicator of future violence but has been inadequately addressed by States,” Duhaime said in presenting his first report to the UN Human Rights Council.

The Special Rapporteur said that “technology has evolved rapidly since the establishment of the mandate and its current capacity far exceeds that in which transitional justice was first envisioned, provoking both positive and negative implications on human rights and transitional justice processes”.

Duhaime said regulating the use of new technologies in compliance with international standards, ensuring due diligence by tech companies, and promoting technological and media literacy are increasingly relevant focus areas for transitional justice processes.

The expert said he will also focus on measures to address human rights violations across generations. “Gross human rights violations committed in conflict or authoritarian rule provide fertile ground for intergenerational trauma, and frequently lead to the distortion or manipulation of memory. This can reproduce societal division as well as hatred, and lead to the recurrence of violence,” he said.

Transitional justice must be responsive to intergenerational harm and risks, including by effectively engaging youth as agents of prevention and change, as well as older generations in education and preventive efforts, and by facilitating their intergenerational collaboration to advance transitional justice processes.

The Special Rapporteur will also study the application of transitional justice policies in early stages of transition. “Transitional justice measures are generally designed after a society has transitioned from conflict or authoritarianism. However, in some instances, designing them at an earlier stage could increase their efficacy, including by embedding such mechanisms in peace negotiations, ensuring comprehensive documentation of ongoing violations, and leveraging the potential of these processes to stop ongoing violence,” he said.

To address these important issues, “lessons learned from the active participation of civil society in modelling transitional justice processes and from successful innovations implemented in the global South should inform current international discussions on the matter”, he said.