New Policy Brief: Protecting Identities, Protecting Lives – Advancing UN treaty body practice to protect complainants’ identities as a measure against reprisals

This policy brief has been prepared by LAW with the aim to present the grounds for the protection of the identities of complainants in the communication procedures of the UN treaty bodies, as a preventive measure in cases where a well-founded fear of reprisals is established.  It presents how the rules and guidelines of treaty bodies, along with the lessons learned from the international, regional and domestic experience of other justice mechanisms, allow for protection of the identities of complainants against the state concerned.

On 5 June 2024, one of the treaty bodies, the Committe on the Elimination of discrimination against Women (CEDAW), made a crucial step forward regarding the protection of victims against reprisals in the treaty bodies’ communication procedures. In this case, CEDAW acceded to LAW’s request to protect the victims’ identities from the state party concerned.

The brief is the result of LAW’s in-depth experience working with survivors of human rights violations, the substantive legal research conducted, and a series of bilateral meetings with individuals working in or with the system of UN treaty bodies. Victims of serious human rights violations and abuses around the world are frequently unable to seek justice and legal redress for the harm they have suffered from due to fear of retaliation and reprisals by state or non-state actors. For specific categories of victims, including victims of sexual violence and children, the fear of stigma within the family and community also prevents them from coming forward to demand justice and redress. In the UN Secretary General’s 2023 report on Cooperation with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in the field of human rights, the UN Secretary General confirmed this trend, finding that “[…] self-censorship, or the choice not to cooperate with the United Nations or to do so under conditions of anonymity due to fear of reprisals, including against relatives or co-workers, has increased.”

UN treaty bodies have affirmed that free engagement of individuals and groups seeking to cooperate with them without fear of intimidation and reprisals is crucial for the efficiency of their work. They have also shared their concerns regarding intimidation and reprisals for individuals cooperating with them through the communication procedures.

There are currently ten treaty bodies and eight of these can receive individual communications concerning states that have accepted the relevant procedure. Through the individual communications procedure, the treaty bodies examine state responsibility and, if a violation is established, they specify general and individual recommendations and appropriate remedies and reparation measures.

The brief addresses frequently asked questions regarding the feasibility of protection of identity in the treaty body communication procedure and ends with key recommendations for the treaty bodies: