The commission/mission should: 1. Gather and analyse contextual information to understand the nature, extent and underlying causes of discrimination against women, and to define whether specific violations against women or broader gender discrimination should be a priority for investigation. 2. Integrate a gender perspective into its investigation plans to ensure that it gathers disaggregated information according to sex and age. 3. Consider the challenges it may face in investigating gender-specific violations and refine its investigations methodology by carefully considering who interviews the victims and where. In some situations, only a woman investigator may be allowed to interview a woman victim or witness and her husband or father may insist on being present throughout the interview. 4. Determine what specific measures it should take to protect victims of gender-based violations who provide testimony. The threats to such victims may come not only from the perpetrators and their cohorts, but also from their own families and communities. D. Access and cooperation Resolutions of the Security Council, the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council establishing commissions/missions have contained language about cooperation of Member States in order to facilitate their work. It is good practice that mandating authorities request such cooperation and take active steps to ensure it. For example, the Human Rights Council, in its resolution 22/13 urged “the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to cooperate fully with the Special Rapporteur and the commission of inquiry, and to permit them and their staff unrestricted access to visit the country and to provide them with all information necessary to enable them to fulfil their mandates”. The terms of reference of bodies set up by the Secretary-General contain similar language. Cooperation with a State can be difficult when the Government does not consent or agree to the establishment of a commission/mission. Fundamentally, consent will enable the commission/mission to have access to persons, locations and documentation necessary to carry out its investigation. A challenge faced by several commissions/missions has been the unwillingness of Governments, non-State actors or the authorities that are the subject of investigation to cooperate. Lack of cooperation may vary from refusing to speak with and provide information and relevant documents to these bodies, to barring them from entering 64 COMMISSIONS OF INQUIRY AND FACT-FINDING MISSIONS ON INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMANITARIAN LAW