“investigate the facts and circumstances surrounding the allegations of serious abuses and violations of human rights”,25 and the Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic (2011) was mandated to “investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law … [and] to establish the facts and circumstances that may amount to such violations”.26 The International Commission of Inquiry on East Timor (1999) was requested to “gather and compile systematically information on possible violations of human rights and acts which may constitute breaches of international humanitarian law”.27 Despite the variations in the formulation of mandates, commissions/missions have approached the task consistently as involving: • The establishment of facts in relation to incidents and allegations of violations of international human rights and humanitarian law; • The assessment of such facts in the light of the applicable body(ies) of law; • The reaching of conclusions with regard to the existence of violations and, where relevant, alleged perpetrators; and • The issuing of recommendations to different entities. 2. APPLICABLE LAW Some mandates of commissions/missions have referred only to international human rights law, while others, pertaining to situations of armed conflict, have referred also to international humanitarian law. For example, the Secretary-General referred only to “alleged gross human rights violations” in the establishment of the investigations into the killings on 28 September 2009 in Guinea,28 while the mandate of the United Nations Factfinding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (2009)29 required it to “investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law”. Commissions/missions have exercised discretion in deciding the applicable law framework in the situations they were investigating. For example, although the mandates of the Commissions of Inquiry for Libya (2011-2012) and the Syrian Arab Republic (2011-2014) referred only to international human rights law, both bodies interpreted their mandates to include international humanitarian law when the situation in these countries reached the level of internal armed conflict.30 The mandates of some commissions/missions also refer to international criminal 25 Human Rights Council resolution 16/25, para. 10. 26 Human Rights Council resolution S-17/1, para. 13. 27 Commission on Human Rights resolution 1999/S-4/1, para. 6. 28 “Letter dated 28 October 2009 from the Secretary-General addressed to the President of the Security Council” (S/2009/556). 29 Human Rights Council resolution S-9/1 of 12 January 2009, para. 14. 30 “Report of the International Commission of Inquiry to investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya” (A/HRC/17/44), paras. 55 and 56; “Report of the independent international commission of inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic” (A/HRC/21/50), annex II, para. 3. GUIDANCE AND PRACTICE 11