A/HRC/8/3 page 14 witness-protection programme.45 Witness protection within the commission was so poor that the possible whereabouts of witnesses was reported in a news article, which cited a commission member as the source of the confidential information.46 The international independent group noted that this, together with the lack of a comprehensive witness-protection programme, would discourage critical witnesses coming forward which would inhibit “any effective future pursuit of the filing of indictments, convictions, and appropriate accountability for the alleged grave human rights violations under review”. 40. In some circumstances, it will be necessary to provide security to all members of the commission for it to function independently, or for it to function at all. An extreme example was provided in Special Rapporteur Wako’s report on his visit to Colombia in October 1989, in which he detailed the massacre of 12 of the 15 members of a commission on 18 January 1989.47 The commission was said to have succeeded in identifying those responsible for a massacre in October 1987. Even after the massacre of most of the commission members, proper protection was not provided to the three surviving members or to the witnesses to the attacks.48 The Special Rapporteur noted that this “[c]ontributes to the phenomena known as impunity. Witnesses cannot come forward to give evidence and even if they make statements, they are later retracted because of intimidation and fear of being killed. Proper investigations cannot be carried out and, therefore, many files are closed for lack of evidence”.49 (g) Lack of power to have access to important evidence 41. Some commissions have been refused access to evidence necessary for the inquiry.50 A commission needs to have the authority to obtain all information necessary to form fully informed conclusions, and this will often mean that a commission needs the power to compel the production of documents and witness testimony.51 In my country report on Nigeria, for example, a commission was established to investigate alleged killings by the army, but the army did not 45 International Independent Group of Eminent Persons, Public Statements of 6 March 2008 and 19 September 2007. 46 Ibid., Public Statement of 6 March 2008. 47 E/CN.4/1990/22/Add.1. 48 E/CN.4/1990/22/Add.1, para. 37. 49 E/CN.4/1990/22/Add.1, para. 68. 50 E/CN.4/1994/7/Add.2, para. 44. 51 E/CN.4/1990/22, para. 11; E/CN.4/1988/22, para. 194.