Memorialisation Not Mentioned as the 5th Pillar of Transitional Justice in the Recently Published Guidance Note of the UN Secretary-General on the Subject

In September 2020, the UN Human Rights Council adopted the report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation, and guarantees of non-recurrence on memorialisation as the 5th pillar of transitional justice.

However, three years later, the Guidance Note of the UN Secretary General on Transitional Justice, published in October 2023, refers only to the 4 traditional pillars (truth, justice, reparation, and guarantees of non-recurrence).

There is no mention of any 5th pillar of transitional justice in this guidance note.

• Could this be considered as a contradiction within UN entities on this matter?
• Would this mean that the 2020 report of the UN Special Rapporteur about a 5th pillar of transitional justice should be ignored?

Without clear clarification from relevant UN human rights entities, this situation can cause (and is already causing) some confusion among readers of UN documents on transitional justice.

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My latest blog posts/articles:

• La justice élève une nation, une société
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