Transparency in the UNHRC investigation of war crimes in Sri Lanka
By Rebecca Wexler-May 8, 2014
Unfortunately, both the U.N. and the GoSL investigations contain obstacles to the reproducibility of methods and results. These obstacles result from procedural actions on the part of investigators, and as well from material limits imposed by some of the proprietary software used in the investigations. For instance, incomplete documentation regarding evidence preservation cast doubt on whether or not all of the investigators actually analyzed identical copies of the video evidence. Researchers may employ a cryptographic hash to verify their copy of a digital file. The hash algorithmically generates a number to uniquely identify the content of a digital file. Anyone who runs this algorithm and produces the same numeric identifier can determine that they have an unaltered copy of the file. Yet, none of the U.N. and GoSL forensic video reports includes a hash.
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) should demand that its investigation into possible war crimes in Sri Lanka deploy transparent, replicable forensic tools and methods that are open to scrutiny by all.
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) should demand that its investigation into possible war crimes in Sri Lanka deploy transparent, replicable forensic tools and methods that are open to scrutiny by all.
