The guidelines also received a separate award in the category of ‘Excellence in Citizen-Oriented Delivery’. In total, 57 projects from EU institutions were selected by the Office of the European Ombudsman and its Advisory Board.

The winning project is the result of extensive cooperation between Eurojust, the GNS and the OTP to support and empower Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) that collect and preserve information on international crimes and human rights violations, which may become admissible evidence in court. Concrete guidance is given on how to document information, including information collected on the ground during international conflicts.

The guidelines were drawn up building on the expertise of the OTP, Eurojust, the GNS, CSOs, national prosecutors and international partners, and were presented in September 2022. The guidelines respond to requests from many CSOs and other stakeholders for clearer guidance on how to effectively support investigations and prosecutions for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide taking place in national and international jurisdictions. The guidelines are available in English, French, Spanish, Arabic and, as of today, Ukrainian.

The Genocide Network enables close cooperation between national authorities when investigating and prosecuting core international crimes. Its mandate is to ensure perpetrators of such crimes do not attain impunity within the Member States of the EU.