A/HRC/12/19 page 11 that plagues the investigation and prosecution of such cases.8 In its recent resolution 63/182 on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, the General Assembly acknowledged the importance of ensuring the protection of witnesses in the prosecution of those suspected of extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, and urged States to intensify efforts to establish and implement effective witness protection programmes or other measures. In the same resolution, the General Assembly also encouraged OHCHR to develop practical tools designed to encourage and facilitate greater attention to the protection of witnesses. 38. Discussion on witness protection within the human rights framework could benefit from the legal frameworks developed by both the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the United Nations Convention against Corruption. Both conventions contain provisions requiring or encouraging measures of protection for witnesses giving testimony concerning offences under those treaties. Although the scope of application of those conventions is limited and does not encompass many of the human rights violations that are of concern to this report, it does have the potential to contribute to the subject of the study. 39. Article 24 of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime places an obligation on each State party to take appropriate measures within its means to provide effective protection from potential retaliation or intimidation for witnesses in criminal proceedings who give testimony concerning offences covered by the Convention and, as appropriate, for their relatives and other persons close to them. Article 24 also stresses that protective measures should not prejudice the rights of the defendant, including the right to due process. 40. The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, and the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air supplementing the Convention include specific provisions (article 6 and article 5, respectively) that stipulate a series of protective measures for victims of trafficking and smuggling; and have been interpreted and applied in conjunction with the aforementioned provisions of the parent Convention on the protection of victims and witnesses. 8 For example, Human Rights Committee: Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-ninth Session, Supplement No. 40 (A/59/40), vol. I, para. 66 (9); ibid., Sixtieth Session, Supplement No. 40 (A/60/40), vol. I, para. 90 (10); ibid., Sixty-first Session, Supplement No. 40 (A/61/40), vol. I, para. 85 (12); Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women: ibid., Sixty-third Session, Supplement No. 38 (A/63/38), para. 225; ibid., Sixty-first Session, Supplement No. 38 (A/61/38), para. 107; ibid., Sixtieth Session, Supplement No. 38 (A/60/38), annex III, para. 5.7; ibid., Fifty-eighth Session, Supplement No. 38 (A/58/38), para. 275; Committee against Torture: ibid., Sixty-third Session, Supplement No. 44 (A/63/44), paras. 32 (10) and 40 (12); ibid., Sixty-second Session, Supplement No. 44 (A/62/44), paras. 33 (4) (c) and (19), and 38 (18) (b); ibid., Sixty-first Session, Supplement No. 44 (A/61/44), para. 29 (28); ibid., Fifty-ninth Session, Supplement No. 44 (A/59/44), para. 78; Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: ibid., Sixty-first Session, Supplement No. 18 (A/61/18), para. 149.