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Compendium: High Level Review of United Nations Sanctions
Expert group representatives indicated that, in some areas (including
evidentiary standards and basic procedures), clear, publicly available methodologies regarding how expert groups conduct their work were desirable,
not least as a way of making Member States feel more secure in dealings with
expert groups and thus more willing to share information. Some experts
pointed specifically to the 2006 Report of the Security Council Informal
Working Group on General Issues on Sanctions4 as representing useful guidance in this respect. Given the differing mandates and characteristics of each
expert group and the different political and security circumstances of each
sanctions regime, some experts commented that broader efforts to standardise their work would likely constrain the expert groups’ dexterity and quality
of work and could compromise their independence.
It is important that individual expert groups continue to develop recommendations for the improvement of sanctions implementation based on
their observations and experience in the field. Such recommendations have
driven significant improvements in the administration of Council sanctions,
and been responsible for establishing partnerships with international organisations whose systems and networks have improved the operational effectiveness of sanctions. The Sanctions Technical Committee would provide
a forum to consider the applicability of recommendations by expert groups
related to implementation to other regimes.
13. Expert groups, in consultation with UN bodies with analogous investigative
mandates, such as the Office of the Ombudsperson and UN human rights
bodies, should develop evidentiary and investigative standards, using as a
starting point the 2006 Report (S/2006/997).
14. The Secretariat should facilitate training on standards for expert groups,
including on the conduct of an investigation, the management and protection of informants and information, to be provided by specialised investigators from UN bodies such as the Office of the Ombudsperson or
the International Criminal Tribunals (for the Former Yugoslavia and for
Rwanda), or from within the Secretariat, including the Office of Legal
Affairs or the Office of Internal Oversight Services.
15. Expert Groups should establish standard procedures for engaging Member
States in the preparation of their reports, which provide that during the
preparation of their reports, expert groups hold interactive discussions
4
Report of the Informal Working Group of the Security Council on General
Issues of Sanctions (S/2006/997), at http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.
asp?symbol=S/2006/997.