VICTIM AND WITNESS PROTECTION  Many States have introduced a range of practical measures to protect victims and witnesses, as well as for investigators at risk, before, during and after an investigation and prosecution. Adopting measures to protect people from reprisals, intimidation, harassment or other risks associated with making a complaint or being involved in an investigation is fundamental for a number of reasons: Article 13, UNCAT [...] Steps shall be taken to ensure that the complainant and witnesses are protected against all ill-treatment or intimidation as a consequence of his [or her] complaint or any evidence given. • they protect the safety of individuals; • they minimise interference in proceedings and limit the withdrawal of key evidence; • they build confidence in complaints and investigations procedures; and • they combat impunity and corruption. Sometimes protection safeguards are set out in domestic legislation and some States have adopted specific crimes covering the harassment or intimidation of victims and witnesses. Other measures may be specified in a range of regulations, policies or rules of procedure for complaints and investigative bodies. Such measures include: • enabling complaints to be submitted confidentially; • relocation or suspension of those under investigation; • interviewing people in private and in confidence; • anonymising data of the people visited or interviewed in any public records, or upon request; and • conducting follow up visits to act as a deterrent and verify the safety of individuals. Good practice also covers measures to assist persons in providing testimony in any hearings. Such measures include holding hearings closed to the public; the use of pseudonyms; expunging names and other information that may identify the victims or witnesses from public records; enabling testimony to be given through the use of a screen, curtain or two-way mirror, or via closed-circuit television or other audio-visual link, or the use of image or voice distortion. For the most serious cases where the lives of victims, witnesses or their families are at risk, a number of States have established formal witness protection programmes, providing for relocation and a change of identity of those at risk. Colombia: witness protection programmes to respond to differing levels of risk In Colombia, the Office of the Attorney General has an obligation to provide protection for witnesses, victims and other parties to criminal proceedings. In accordance with Law No. 418 of 1997, three distinct witness protection programmes have been developed to respond to differing levels of risk for victims and witness. Applications to be placed under these programmes are made to the Office of the Attorney General. The first programme provides witnesses with information and recommendations for their own safety; the second provides limited monitoring of witnesses’ situations; and the third relates to the most serious cases and includes a change of identity and covers victims, witnesses, parties to proceedings and officials of the Office of the Attorney General. TOOL: Complaints and investigations 13/17