Wittingly or unwittingly, civil society actors have long been faced with the task of documenting serious human rights violations. Thirty years ago, such efforts were largely organised by grassroots movements, often with little support or funding from international actors. Sharing information and best practices was difficult. Today that situation has significantly changed. The purpose of this article is to explore the changing landscape of civil society documentation of serious human rights violations, and what that means for standardising and professionalising documentation efforts. Using the recent Hissene Habre case as an example, this article begins by looking at how civil society documentation can successfully influence an accountability process. Next, the article touches upon barriers that continue to impede greater documentation efforts. The article examines the changing landscape of documentation, focusing on technological changes and the rise of citizen journalism and unofficial investigations, using Syria as an example, as well as on the increasing support for documentation efforts both in Syria and worldwide. The changing landscape has resulted in the proliferation of international documentation initiatives aimed at providing local civil society actors guidelines and practical assistance on how to recognise, collect, manage, store and use information about serious human rights violations, as well as on how to minimise the risks associated with the documentation of human rights violations. The recent initiatives undertaken by international civil society, including those by the Public International Law & Policy Group, play an important role in helping to standardise and professionalise documentation work and promote the foundational principles of documentation, namely the ‘do no harm’ principle, and the principles of informed consent and confidentiality. Recognising the drawback that greater professionalisation may bring, it nevertheless concludes by applauding the initiatives undertaken thus far and calls for even more sustained cooperation, dissemination and training for civil society where possible.

中文翻译：

---

文献工作中的格局不断变化：严重侵犯人权的民间社会文献

民间社会行为者有意无意地长期面临着记录严重侵犯人权行为的任务。三十年前，这种努力主要是由基层运动组织的，通常很少得到国际行为者的支持或资助。共享信息和最佳实践很困难。今天，这种情况已经发生了重大变化。本文的目的是探讨民间社会严重侵犯人权文献的变化情况，以及这对标准化和专业化文献工作的意义。本文以最近的海森·哈伯（Hisene Habre）案为例，首先探讨了公民社会文档如何成功地影响问责制。接下来，本文探讨了继续阻碍更多文档工作的障碍。本文以叙利亚为例，考察了不断变化的文档格局，重点关注技术变化，公民新闻和非官方调查的兴起，以及在叙利亚和全球范围内对文档工作的日益支持。不断变化的形势导致国际文献倡议的泛滥，旨在为当地民间社会行为者提供有关如何识别，收集，管理，存储和使用有关严重侵犯人权的信息以及如何最大程度地减少侵犯人权行为的指导方针和实际援助。与记录侵犯人权行为有关的风险。国际民间社会最近采取的举措，包括国际公法和政策小组的举措，在帮助规范和专业化文档工作以及促进文档的基本原则（“无害”原则，知情同意和保密原则）方面发挥重要作用。最后，它认识到更高专业化可能带来的弊端，但对迄今采取的举措表示赞赏，并呼吁在可能的情况下更加持续地开展合作，传播和培训民间社会。