the discrimination continues to be officially sanctioned and where there is a complete lack of recognition of the human dignity of the other as well as identity. For many minority communities, justice and accountability remain an illusion as impunity continues to flourish. 5. It is against this backdrop that I welcome the concept note and the draft recommendations particularly recommendations 67 to 70 which deal with how transitional justice can contribute to national reconciliation and sustainable peace for minority communities. 6. Transitional justice has been implemented in many countries in order to redress the legacies of massive human rights abuses. The Guidance Note issued by the UN Secretary General in March 2010 called upon the United Nations under principle 9 to “strive to ensure transitional justice processes and mechanisms take account of the root causes of conflict and repressive rule, and address violations of all rights, including economic, social and cultural rights.” 7. The four pillars underpinning transitional justice include the right to truth at both an individual and societal level, the right to justice, the right to reparations and the guarantee of non-recurrence. Measures or instruments include truth commissions, Commissions of Inquiry, Mapping processes, memorialisation, criminal justice options, security sector reform and reparations. Any transitional justice measure must be taken in consultation with the minority community affected and must provide for the full participation of such communities. 8. Recommendation 69 reinforces this point. However it could do with the addition that to be effective, transitional justice measures adopted must be sensitive to the ways in which the deliberate targeting of people on the basis of their ethnic or religious identity may cause distinctive harms and, second, to clarify the difficult political challenges that arise in societies where communities are not ready to cooperate, or even agree on a definition of who the victims are. Ensuring that data is disaggregated is crucial. 9. Truth Commissions in particular have the potential to provide minority communities with the opportunity to uncover the facts about the violence and crimes committed, to determine patterns and trends and to identify those whose rights are violated as well as to identify those who bear responsibility at both an individual and structural level. Documenting the violations is recognised as an important first step. For minority communities whose rights and who experience mass atrocity crimes, documenting and creating an archive is an important step in building the collective memory of the past. While one’s land can be taken and possessions destroyed, the memory of who and where we came from as well as the violations committed should never be taken away