Transitional Justice: UN Expert Urges Rights-Based Oversight of Technology Companies After Conflict and Repression

Summary

On 16 October 2026, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, Bernard Duhaime, presented a report to the General Assembly on the impact of emerging technologies on transitional justice. According to a press release issued the same day by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), he called for urgent, rights-based regulation of technology companies, notably those operating in transitional settings, at a time of heightened debate on the development of artificial intelligence.

"New technologies must be seen as a tool for victims and practitioners, but never as a self-standing solution," Mr. Duhaime said, according to the release. This report summarises the opportunities and risks identified by the Special Rapporteur, his assessment of the role of technology companies and States, his recommendations and the relevant international standards.

Background: The Mandate and the Report

The report, "Promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence" (A/81/130), is dated 6 July 2026 and was transmitted to the General Assembly's eighty first session by the Secretary-General in accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 54/8. That resolution asks the Special Rapporteur to identify and promote good practices and lessons learned in the field. According to the report, he consulted about 40 submissions received from Member States, civil society organisations and other stakeholders in response to a call for inputs, and convened a thematic consultation with experts in January 2026.

The report examines technology across what it describes as the five pillars of transitional justice: truth seeking, justice, reparations, memorialisation and guarantees of non-recurrence. UN Meetings Coverage (GA/SHC/4445) records that Mr. Duhaime addressed the Third Committee on 16 October, at a meeting that also heard the Special Rapporteurs on the right to food, on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, and on extreme poverty.

Opportunities Identified in the Report

"In recent years, several innovative examples of technologies supporting transitional justice processes have emerged, including open-source information for investigations and truth-seeking, biometric and forensic tools to strengthen justice and accountability, large language models to detect patterns of abuse, as well as encryption to enable the safe participation of victims and witnesses in legal proceedings," Mr. Duhaime said in the OHCHR release.

The report cites examples drawn largely from submissions. It describes a chatbot developed in Colombia, known as "Ventana de la verdad," that allows interactive engagement with the archives of the country's Truth Commission, and the use of remote sensing in Serbia to locate graves of missing persons. It states that the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism for Syria has used artificial intelligence, computer vision and machine translation to work through previously unmanageable data sets, and that Mexico's National Search Commission has distributed hundreds of portable fingerprint scanners to help identify deceased persons.

Archives, Reparations and Memory

According to the report, records of the Marshall Islands Nuclear Claims Tribunal have been digitised and transferred to Switzerland for long term preservation, and the historical archive of Guatemala's National Police has guarded against political interference by ensuring that institutions abroad hold copies of its digital collection. The Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission of the Gambia used data encryption and voice distortion to protect the anonymity of some witnesses. The report also refers to a Ukrainian government programme, eVidnovlennya, that uses remote sensing to document damage to housing and facilitate compensation, to Brazil's "Lugares pela memória" mapping of sites linked to violations under the military dictatorship, and to a digital memorial for missing persons created by families and non-governmental organisations in Lebanon.

Risks and Limitations

"At the same time, the deployment of technologies in transitional contexts, often marked by volatility, widespread trauma, weak institutions and often polarised communities, present inherent risks and limitations," Mr. Duhaime said, according to the release. He pointed to disparities in digital literacy, online surveillance, and disinformation and hate speech amplified by algorithms.

The report adds that algorithmic systems can embed bias depending on their training data, that Internet shutdowns and connectivity gaps can distort which violations are documented, and that automated content moderation on platforms removes material that could be valuable evidence. It warns that synthetic content and deepfakes can allow perpetrators to disclaim publicly documented abuses, a dynamic it calls the "liar's dividend," and that sensitive biometric and forensic databases require strict data protection safeguards. The risks, it says, are especially pronounced for women, who are disproportionate targets of online abuse, and for migrants, minorities and Indigenous Peoples.

The report also notes that some of the same technologies are used in warfare, including artificial intelligence enabled decision support in lethal targeting, facial recognition and spyware for mass surveillance, and drones. "There is simply no technological solution to engaging with the root causes of violence and repression, nor to the painful work required in post-conflict reconciliation," Mr. Duhaime said.

The Role of Technology Companies and States

The report observes that the development of relevant technologies remains largely in the hands of the private sector. It acknowledges that some companies have adopted protocols to mitigate risks in high-risk settings, such as policies intended to protect civilians in conflict zones, while noting concerns raised by civil society organisations that such safeguards are inconsistently implemented. It also recognises that meeting human rights and regulatory requirements in volatile transitional settings may be difficult, since even well-intentioned due diligence may not anticipate rapid changes in circumstances.

"Technology companies must recognise transitional settings as a distinct category of high-risk contexts warranting heightened diligence," Mr. Duhaime said in the release. The report proposes safety by design, the use of design "personas" based on victims in transitional settings, and emergency "break glass" measures such as a remote "kill switch" where risks of irreparable harm cannot otherwise be mitigated. For States, it warns against entrenching dependence on external technology providers and calls for technology based initiatives to be paired with offline options.

At the time of writing, the Taskforce had not identified published responses to the report from technology companies or Member States. Any such responses will be reflected in future updates.

Recommendations

The Special Rapporteur recommends that States enact rights-based regulation requiring human rights impact assessments of technology products before and during deployment in transitional settings, with the assessments made public, along with transparency on data use and a meaningful right to redress. He also calls on States to ensure human oversight and independent review of technology based investigations, including disclosure of known error rates; to train investigators, prosecutors and judges in digital evidence; to adopt robust data protection laws; to refrain from Internet shutdowns; and to prohibit mass spyware and surveillance against human rights defenders, investigative journalists and humanitarian actors.

For technology companies, the report recommends implementing the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, consulting violence affected communities, cooperating with truth commissions and accountability mechanisms, and conducting conflict sensitive human rights due diligence with key findings published. It asks digital platforms to develop, with civil society, protocols to preserve online content that may assist investigations into atrocities. "They must above all, ensure that communities are consulted and placed at the centre in the development and deployment of their products, policies and operations," Mr. Duhaime said.

Relevant International Standards

The report links its analysis to the right of access to information, the right to the truth about gross violations and the right to an effective remedy, as recognised in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, and to the Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation. Under the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, endorsed by the Human Rights Council in 2011, companies are expected to respect human rights, conduct due diligence and provide for remedy. The report also refers to the Berkeley Protocol on Digital Open Source Investigations, the Leiden Guidelines on digitally derived evidence, the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, the Global Digital Compact and regional frameworks including the European Union Artificial Intelligence Act and Digital Services Act. Several of these instruments are non binding guidance.

Taskforce Note

The Global HR Taskforce will continue to monitor developments, including the General Assembly's consideration of the report, any responses from States and technology companies and further work by the Special Rapporteur on technology and transitional justice. Sources: OHCHR press release, "UN expert calls for robust human rights-based oversight of technology companies operating in transitional justice settings," 16 October 2026, as republished by The National Tribune; Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, A/81/130, 6 July 2026; UN Meetings Coverage and Press Releases, GA/SHC/4445, 16 October 2026; Devdiscourse, 17 October 2026; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.