A report to the United Nations Human Rights Council makes something clear:
Documentation is the backbone of justice.
In his 2025 report on documenting serious human rights violations, the UN Special Rapporteur emphasises that without rigorous documentation:
- Victims are excluded
- Investigations stall
- Reparations fail
- Denialism grows
Every Casualty Counts was invited to contribute to the report – and our Standards for Casualty Recording, first published by ECC in 2016, are explicitly cited as a key resource for best practice.
That recognition reflects a wider shift: casualty recording is not just technical work. It is foundational to truth, accountability and non-recurrence.
Read the report in full: https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/60/32
