On 14-15 May 2014 regional consultations on transitional justice were held in Berlin. Representatives from the United States and European countries were invited to participate. The conference was organised by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence.

The Special Rapporteur has been carrying out his mission since May 2012. His mandate encompasses investigating cases of mass human rights and international legal order breaches. His mission is to analyze and support actions aimed at restoring justice, reparations and guarantee of non-recurrence. Carrying out his mission, Pablo de Greiff visited several North American, European and African countries and presented two reports respectively at the General Assembly of the UN and at the UN Human Rights Council.

During the consultations, Poland was represented by the IPN President Dr. Łukasz Kamiński and by Dr. Krzysztof Persak, the Director of the Office of the President.

The consultations in Berlin were the fourth in a series of meetings, after regional consultations for North Africa and the Middle East, Latin America and Africa. They were attended by country representatives, NGOs and experts. The main thematic panels included the prosecutions of perpetrators on a country- and international level, access to truth through archives, the functioning of investigations commissions and searching for victims' remains. Other topics included vetting procedures, the question of remembrance, identity construction and education. The IPN has invited the Special Rapporteur to Poland in order to become acquainted in more detail with the Polish model of coming to terms with the past.

More information on the Special Rapporteur can be found on:

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/TruthJusticeReparation/Pages/Index.aspx