A/HRC/8/3 page 9 3. Guiding principles for a national commission of inquiry 24. The basic question that must guide an assessment of a commission is whether it can, in fact, address impunity. In Special Rapporteur Wako’s first report in 1983 for the extrajudicial executions mandate, he recommended that “[m]inimum standards of investigation need to be laid down to show whether a Government has genuinely investigated a case reported to it and that those responsible are fully accountable”.18 Since then, and due in part to the work of successive Special Rapporteurs, the general standards which govern how a commission of inquiry should be conducted are now clear and well established.19 I will not detail in full those standards again here, except to highlight the following. 25. In order for a commission to address impunity, it must be independent, impartial and competent. The commission’s mandate should give the necessary power to the commission to obtain all information necessary to the inquiry but it should not suggest a predetermined outcome. Commission members must have the requisite expertise and competence to effectively investigate the matter and be independent from suspected perpetrators and from institutions with an interest in the outcome of the inquiry. Commissions should be provided transparent funding and sufficient resources to carry out their mandate. Effective protection from intimidation and violence needs to be provided to witnesses and commission members. When it establishes the commission, the Government should undertake to give due consideration to the commission’s recommendations; when the report is completed, the Government should reply publicly to the commission’s report or indicate what it intends to do in response to the report. The commission’s report should be made public in full and disseminated widely. 26. As the examination below of the problems encountered in relation to commissions indicates, these standards are more than just desirable best practice. Experience shows that conformity with them is essential if a commission is to be effective. 18 E/CN.4/1983/16, para. 230.4. See also E/CN.4/1985/17, paras. 59-60; E/CN.4/1988/22, para. 189. 19 Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, E/1989/89 (1989), especially Principle 11; Principles on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, General Assembly resolution 55/89, Annex, especially Principle 5; Updated Set of principles for the protection and promotion of human rights through action to combat impunity, Report of the independent expert to update the Set of principles to combat impunity, Diane Orentlicher, E/CN.4/2005/102/Add.1 (8 February 2005), especially Principles 6-13; United Nations Manual on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, Model Protocol for a Legal Investigation of Extra-Legal Arbitrary and Summary Executions (“Minnesota Protocol”), E/ST/CSDHA/12 (1991); Report of the SecretaryGeneral, E/CN.4/2006/89 (15 February 2006), para. 2.