In 2016, after a two-year process of revision, the new version of Minnesota Protocol was finalized by an international group of experts convened by the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
Confronting the question of how to address political killings during the mid-1980s, various civil society groups came to the conclusion that criminal investigation techniques were an obvious starting place.
[7] In 2014 the Special Rapporteur on summary executions, Christof Heyns, began a process of consulting relevant experts and, in collaboration with OHCHR and UNODC, bringing together a large group that would ultimately participate in the revision of the Minnesota Protocol.
In 2015, in his report to the General Assembly, he noted that ‘[t]he extent of the continued reliance on the Manual in international jurisprudence and by national legal entities emphasizes the need for the document to be up to date and comprehensive.
It is to be expected that if the document is more up to date, it will more often and more readily serve as a guide.’[8] In 2016, two Working Groups, and a large international Advisory Panel undertook the revision, including with reference to two stakeholder consultations.
[14] The Minnesota Protocol aims to protect the right to life by promoting effective investigation of potentially unlawful death or suspected enforced disappearance.
Therefore, in addition to their duties to respect and to protect the right to life, States must also investigate potentially unlawful death, ensure accountability and remedy violations.
[…] Where an investigation reveals evidence that a death was caused unlawfully, the State must ensure that identified perpetrators are prosecuted and, where appropriate, punished through a judicial process.
Investigations and prosecutions are essential to deter future violations and to promote accountability, justice, the rights to remedy and to the truth, and the rule of law.
These should seek to establish significant facts, preserve relevant material and lead to the identification of all the parties involved, including by managing the following: Particular sections are dedicated to processes for interviewing witnesses and for recovering human remains.
[27] Particular guidance is offered on the techniques for collecting and sampling different types of evidence, including the following: Investigation of potentially unlawful deaths will almost always be aided by the conduct of an autopsy.
The aims of the autopsy, principally are: In general, the Protocol establishes in various places the requirement of professional ethics for investigators, including forensic doctors.