The Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea takes testimony from witnesses at a public hearing in Tokyo. UN / OHCHR Photo deriving from participation in the hearings. Participants must be fully informed of the nature and conditions of the hearings, including, for example, whether they will be broadcast on television or made available on the Internet, and of the commission’s/ mission’s limited capacity to ensure their protection and safety should security risks arise. In some cases, commissions/missions have had to turn away interested individuals based on an assessment of possible retaliation against them or their families or the organizations they worked for. 4. INVESTIGATING DURING AN ONGOING CONFLICT Some commissions/missions have carried out their mandates to investigate violations of human rights and international humanitarian law during an armed conflict – for example, in Libya (2011), the Syrian Arab Republic (2011-2014) and the Central African Republic (2014). These contexts present additional challenges. During an armed conflict, the security situation is usually unpredictable and evolves rapidly. This makes it very difficult for the commission/mission to undertake accurate risk assessments, and often prevents access to the affected countries or areas. An additional challenge in this 56 COMMISSIONS OF INQUIRY AND FACT-FINDING MISSIONS ON INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMANITARIAN LAW