The Yellow Notebooks explores the ecosystems that make investigations possible.
We engage with investigators and others who produce, test, and use evidence, asking difficult questions, sharing lessons learned, practical tools, and emerging challenges.
At a time when human rights protections are under pressure, we believe credible evidence and strong collaboration matter more than ever. The Yellow Notesbooks is our contribution to a more collaborative space for increasing awareness of and knowledge sharing regarding independent investigations.
New resources, conversations, and practical materials will be added over time as the project evolves.
The Accountability Chain
Grounded investigations
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Credible evidence
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Stronger advocacy and public understanding
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Better due diligence, policy, and legal action
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Greater accountability and remedy
What we do
Stories
Field realities, case experiences, and reflections from investigative work.
Conversations
Dialogue across civil society, journalism, research, communities, funders, technologists, and institutions.
Resources
Tools, methods, and lessons on evidence, security, ethics, technology, AI, funding and impact.
The change we want to support
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Isolated investigations
Short-term outputs
Remote abstraction
Fragile funding
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Stronger investigative ecosystems
Shared methods and learning
Evidence grounded in lived reality
Long-term support
Human rights investigations “help identify perpetrators and protect victims, or contribute to establish both a chain of accountability and vehicles to deliver justice and redress to the victims. They aim at influencing positive change in laws and practice. They draw attention to serious violations and accountability gaps, and help mobilize action nationally and internationally to grant justice to victims. The ultimate goal of this and other human rights work is preventing abuses or, at a minimum, mitigating and stopping violations when they do occur. “
Navi Pillay, former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and former judge at the International Criminal Court
Our Team
Alice P. Blondel
Alice Blondel is an investigator, executive and advisor with more than twenty-five years of experience working across the NGO, international and private sectors.
Her career has focused on uncovering the systems that enable conflict, abuse and impunity, including conflict economies, arms trafficking, sanctions violations and illicit financial flows. Her work has contributed to international policy action, criminal investigations and war crimes prosecutions.
She has led organisations, advised governments, companies and international organisations, and worked with everyone from affected communities to intelligence agencies and United Nations bodies.
She believes that independent investigations are essential not only for accountability, but ultimately for remedy and change for those affected by harm.
Ulrika Sandberg is an impatient human rights researcher and advisor with 20+ years of working on the topic of business and human rights. In the early 2000’s she was researching oil extraction in Nigeria and testing to link responsibility for human rights abuses with companies actions and inactions prior to the existence of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). Today she applying the UNGPs on a daily basis in her current professional role. In 2026 we have come some way as companies’ respect for human rights are written into laws in some countries. At the same time she still remembers the strong smell of oil residue on the local farmer’s farmland with its oil palms, and she is extremely frustrated that clean-up is not happening and neither is any sort of remediation for so many affected communities in the Niger Delta. Her worry is who will do the investigations to disclose what is happening, or not happening, on the ground with decreasing independent research and investigations?
You can read more on her Linkedin profile.