Estructura de la matriz de operacionalización de variables

Where concerned states refused to cooperate, commissions were barred from entering their territories. HRC-led commissions have largely borne the brunt of this lack of cooperation; inquiries into North Korea, Eritrea, Syria, Myanmar, and different phases of the Israel/Palestine conflict were all denied territorial access and information.969 _{It may be}

recalled from Chapter Two that while states usually consented to inquiries by the Secretary- General and Security Council, this did not always translate to full cooperation in practice.970 Saxon writes that lack of state cooperation is not a “fatal impediment” where fact-finders are persistent and creative.971 In practice, UN atrocity inquiries frequently resorted to gathering information from outside uncooperative states.

Some commissions held hearings and conducted interviews with victims and witnesses in third states. For instance, the North Korea Commission conducted public hearings in Seoul, Tokyo, London and Washington DC.972 The Goldstone Commission held public hearings in Gaza and in Geneva.973 The Syria Commission collected first-hand accounts from people who

961 _{E.g., Guinea Report, supra note 39, para. 13.} 962 _{E.g., Eritrea First Report, supra note 567, para. 31.}

963 _{South Sudan First Report, supra note 30, para. 12 and Gaza Report, supra note 766, para. 9.} 964 _{Eritrea Q&A, supra note 89, at 1.}

965 _{OHCHR Guidance and Practice, supra note 63, at 56 and 75.} 966 _{CAR Report, supra note 32, para. 7.}

967 _{Ibid., para. 21.}

968 _{Report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Libya, UN Doc. A/HRC/17/44, 12 January 2012, para.}

11 [Libya First Report].

969 _{‘Myanmar refuses visas to UN team investigating abuse of Rohingya Muslims’, The Guardian, 30 June 2017,}

available at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/30/myanmar-refuses-visas-un-abuse-rohingya-

muslims (accessed 1 May 2018).

970 _{See Chapter Two, Section 1.2 and Yihdego, supra note 96, at 46.} 971 _{Saxon, supra note 736, at 221.}

972 _{North Korea Report, supra note 32, paras. 15(b) and 31.} 973 _{Goldstone Report, supra note 633, para. 166.}

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had left the country and interviewed people inside Syria by Skype and telephone.974 _The

Eritrea Commission similarly collected accounts from people located outside Eritrea, including refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants.975

Commissions also utilised documentary sources of information. Several commissions utilised satellite imagery; this enabled the Eritrea Commission to locate many detention facilities976

and the North Korea Commission to confirm the existence of prison camps.977 Some commissions obtained satellite imagery from the UN Institute for Training and Research’s Operational Satellite Applications Programme,978 while the North Korea Commission had to rely on commercially available information.979 That Commission chided, “[a]lmost certainly, higher resolution satellite imagery produced by more technologically advanced states would have provided further information”,980 _{but that its requests were not granted, apparently due to}

security restrictions.981

Commissions also examined information available in the public domain, including by those implicated in violations. The Syria Commission examined public communications by CENTCOM982 and videos and photographs published by extremist groups. 983 Some commissions also obtained clandestinely-recorded videos and photographs.984 _{For instance,}

the Syria Commission examined a cache of thousands of photographs allegedly taken inside in Government-run detention facilities.985 As it can be difficult to verify the authenticity of documentary sources, such information was usually used to corroborate first-hand accounts.986 987 In some cases, commissions were not able to use photographic and video materials as they could not be authenticated.988

Some states criticised commissions’ information-gathering methods after refusing to cooperate. For instance, Eritrea complained that most claims of violations were from “550 anonymous individuals who are comprised of refugees”, which was “not representative of the vast majority of Eritreans abroad and inside the country.”989 _{Yet, Eritrea had denied access to}

the Eritrea Commission, which, in combination with that state’s control of information and

974 _{Syria Third Report, supra note 564, para. 9.} 975 _{Eritrea First Report, supra note 567, para. 34.} 976 _{Ibid., para. 35.}

977 _{North Korea Report, supra note 32, para. 60.}

978 _{Eritrea First Report, supra note 567, para. 35; Goldstone Report, supra note 633, para. 53; Gaza Report,}

supra note 766, para. 260.

979 _{North Korea Report, supra note 32, para. 60.} 980 _{Ibid., para. 60.}

981 _{Ibid., footnote 1063.}

982 _{E.g., Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, UN Doc.}

A/HRC/36/55, 8 August 2017, footnotes 10 and 11 [Syria Fourteenth Report].

983 _{E.g., Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, UN Doc.}

A/HRC/27/60, 13 August 2014, paras. 37 and 40 [Syria Eighth Report].

984 _{North Korea Report, supra note 32, para. 61.} 985 _{Syria Eighth Report, supra note 983, para. 26.}

986 _{Eg, North Korea Report, supra note 32, paras. 71-72 and 734; Syria Fourteenth Report, supra note 982,}

Annex II, para. 8 and Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, UN Doc. A/HRC/37/72, 1 February 2018, Annex V, para. 24 [Syria Fifteenth Report].

987 _{Eg, North Korea Report, supra note 32, paras. 71-72 and 734; Syria Fourteenth Report, supra note 982,}

Annex II, para. 8 and Syria Fifteenth Report, supra note 986, Annex V, para. 24.

988 _{E.g., Syria Third Report, supra note 564, Annex VI, para. 22.} 989 _{Eritrea Ministry of Foreign Affairs, supra note 838, para. 6.}

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fears of reprisals, precluded the Commission from contacting those within the country. In response to the Government’s assertion that testimonies of prison camps were false, the North Korea Commission stated that the best way for the DPRK to respond would be to allow access to sites allegedly containing such camps.990 Commissions also adopted other strategies to respond to states’ non-cooperation, discussed next.