• The commission/mission needs to know and understand the local, regional and national context of the country in which they operate, because protection is contextbased and context-specific. There is neither a blueprint nor a single correct approach to dealing with protection concerns or to improving the safety of victims, witnesses and other cooperating persons. The appropriate protection strategy will depend on the political and security environments, the commitment of the national authorities, the national witness protection framework, and the capacity and resources of the United Nations presence in the country, among other contextual factors. 2. SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT A thorough analysis and assessment of the security conditions in which the investigations will take place should take into account the security of the commission/mission, its staff, the persons cooperating with it, the proceedings, equipment and information. The commission’s/mission’s decisions on protecting cooperating persons will depend on the nature and extent of the risks involved based on a comprehensive security assessment, including, where appropriate: • Assessing the past action of the Government and opposition groups in the country or countries to be visited with regard to persons who have testified about human rights violations, in particular any attempts to silence witnesses and informants. Information will include detention, imprisonment, prosecution, harassment or intimidation of any person for testifying or denouncing human rights violations. • Deploying a team of security and human rights staff to the field ahead of missions to establish preliminary contacts, identify victims, witnesses and other important sources of information, and examine the general security conditions. The team should assess protection options and the extent to which the commission/mission may seek the cooperation of persons without jeopardizing their safety, and put in place safety arrangements for high-risk cases. The advance team should be careful not to draw unwarranted attention to victims, witnesses and other sources. • Gathering information about existing witness protection programmes operated by the national police or any other national security agencies; the effectiveness and integrity of any such programmes, means or mechanisms should be carefully analysed. • Inquiring about the protection of sources and the security conditions with persons with recognized experience or expertise in the country, such as civil society organizations, human rights activists and staff of international organizations, United Nations staff and academics. • Consulting international experts from international tribunals specialized in the protection of witnesses for advice and guidance. In some exceptional situations the 76 COMMISSIONS OF INQUIRY AND FACT-FINDING MISSIONS ON INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMANITARIAN LAW