Throughout the interview, the interviewer should assess the interviewee’s credibility
and reliability. The interviewer should be cautious about concluding that someone
is not reliable or the account not credible on the basis of inconsistencies or because
the person was not assertive. In some cases the lack of consistency or assertiveness
could be the result of trauma.
The informed consent of interviewees to use or share the information provided must
be obtained during the interview (see subsect. 6, below). Interviewers need to
explain the commission’s/mission’s confidentiality policy and ask the interviewees
whether they consent to specific ways in which the information they have provided
can be used or shared. For example, whether the information about the incident can
be included in a public report without the interviewee’s identity or if the information
could be shared with other United Nations entities or with the International Criminal
Court. Interviewees have to be fully aware of the possible implications of their
decisions and the potential risks. With regard to children or persons with intellectual
disabilities, the consent of parents or legal guardians must be obtained.
Once the interview is over, the interviewer is required to promptly record the notes
of the interview in the commission’s/mission’s database. The task of the interviewer
is to convert the information provided by the interviewee into a logical presentation
about what happened, where, how, and who was involved. The narrative should
be as faithful as possible to the account given by the interviewee and have the
greatest level of detail to allow anyone not familiar with the incident, such as the
commission’s/mission’s analyst, to easily understand and use the information. The
report should also indicate any protection concerns of the interviewee and the extent
of the person’s consent to use or share the information.
(b) Field missions
Field missions have to be carefully planned to ensure that they yield maximum results
while making efficient use of resources. Mission plans will address the following:
Where?
There may be several places within each country where investigations will be conducted
and these should be clearly identified. What sites will be visited? A security risk
assessment has to be conducted for each location to ascertain the potential risks to
investigators, potential sources and the safety of the information gathered, and take
measures to mitigate such risks.
52
COMMISSIONS OF INQUIRY AND FACT-FINDING MISSIONS ON INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMANITARIAN LAW
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