Guide: Preparing Witness Statements in International Human Rights Litigation

International human rights bodies – including the European Court of Human Rights and UN treaty bodies – deal with the majority of cases on paper without holding an oral hearing. Consequently, written witness statements are the most important way of presenting the evidence of victims, or other persons, to the Court. As well as strengthening and humanising a case, witness statements also provide a crucial opportunity for survivors of human rights violations to tell their story.

This guide, produced by EHRAC, provides practical guidance for legal practitioners on best practice in preparing witness statements. It was updated in September 2023 to include guidance on how to obtain witness statements in a survivor-centred way, in accordance with principles of trauma-informed legal practice.

The updated guide (2023) is currently available in English, Russian and Ukrainian.

An earlier version of the guide (2019) is available in Azerbaijani and Georgian.