Thanks to the widespread availability of smartphones, internet connectivity, and satellite images, we have more ways to document atrocities than ever before. However, when it comes to translating that documentation into digital evidence that can be used in a courtroom, significant difficulties arise. Among these difficulties is the fact that lawyers and judges often lack an understanding of how digital evidence fits into existing evidentiary frameworks for criminal trials: when will digital evidence be admissible? When will it be reliable, authentic, and probative? This uncertainty can result in inconsistent and contradictory case law, missed opportunities for accountability, and unfair trials, all of which undermine efforts to combat impunity. 

The DEDC-Global project proposes to solve this problem by developing guidelines on the use of digital evidence before domestic courts. The guidelines are designed to be used by practitioners working to secure accountability for international crimes at the domestic level, including investigators, lawyers, and judges. They will be tailored to individual countries, regions, and legal systems, allowing for comparison across jurisdictions and the sharing of best practices. 

The DEDC-Global project is a significant scaling up of the already successful Leiden Guidelines on Digitally Derived Evidence Project. The Leiden Guidelines Project was carried out within the Kalshoven-Gieskes Forum at Leiden University and examined the treatment of digital evidence before international criminal courts and tribunals. Based on the project’s extensive research, the Leiden Guidelines on DDE were developed to assist practitioners in understanding how to utilise digital evidence for accountability for international crimes. The reception of the Leiden Guidelines has been overwhelmingly positive, with clear use cases demonstrating their utility. However, the feedback has consistently indicated that guidelines on the use of digital evidence are much needed for the domestic level–perhaps more so than for the international level. Given the limitations of international criminal trials, most accountability work takes place–and will continue to take place–at the domestic level.

In order to achieve its aim of being a truly global project, DEDC-Global must cover a large portion of the world’s legal systems. To do so, the project will leverage developments in AI. In partnership with OpenJustice AI, the DEDC-Global project will include training a groundbreaking legal AI tool to conduct large-scale legal research in domestic systems, and together with legal experts, craft guidelines tailored to those systems. Fénix will therefore be at the forefront of generating legal language for large language models to learn from and help pave the way for others to leverage AI in the justice and accountability space.  

While other recent projects have laid out international standards for digital investigations into atrocity crimes, the DEDC-Global project targets a clear and pressing gap because it focuses on accountability at the domestic level. The DEDC-Global project will be carried out within the Fénix Foundation, a Netherlands-based NGO with a mission to support accountability for atrocity crimes through innovations in AI. The centering of AI in the DEDC-Global methodology is an expression of the Fénix Foundation’s core mission to leverage AI for accountability in order to empower the lawyers of today, educate the lawyers of tomorrow, and secure the rule of law in the digital age. The Fénix team has a combined 30 years of experience working at the intersection of digital evidence, data, and peacebuilding.