A/HRC/32/47 8. The protection of witnesses and victims remains a central concern. Almost all witnesses and victims feared reprisals by the Eritrean authorities, either against themselves or their family members in Eritrea. For this reason, all information gathered by the commission during its investigations is confidential. The commission systematically sought the explicit and informed consent of victims and witnesses for the use of information pertaining to them. 9. The commission paid special attention to allegations of sexual and gender-based violence, including violence against women and girls, and assessed the gender dimension and impact of other violations. It also took into account the specific challenges posed in investigating allegations of sexual violence against both women and men. 10. In accordance with practices followed by previous United Nations commissions of inquiry and other fact-finding bodies denied access to the territory where the alleged violations were committed, the commission visited neighbouring and other countries to conduct interviews with those who had first-hand information. It also conducted interviews using audio and video means of communication. 11. On 9 November 2015, the commission issued an invitation for written submissions. The deadline for submissions was 15 January 2016. 12. The commission recalls that, although it is not a judicial body, it adopted a rigorous approach when analysing the information it collected. It assessed the credibility and reliability of each witness’s evidence on the basis of the information available to it. Patterns of conduct described by the commission are based on numerous credible sources with direct information, supplemented with expert evidence, hearsay evidence and/or open source information. 13. Like similar United Nations commissions of inquiry, the commission maintained its standard of proof based on “reasonable grounds to believe”. D. Applicable regional and international law 14. Eritrea is a State party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the first two Optional Protocols thereto, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) and the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) of the International Labour Organization. 15. Although Eritrea is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, many provisions of the Rome Statute reflect international customary law binding on Eritrea. II. Written submissions 16. In response to its call, the commission received almost 45,000 written submissions, the vast majority of which were critical of the first report of the commission. Only eight submissions were sent from Eritrea. 4