A/HRC/42/CRP.1 871. The obligation to respect, protect and fulfil international human rights obligations includes the obligation to document and investigate allegations of human rights violations and abuses, and ensure that perpetrators are held accountable 1413. This is equally valid for all duty-bearers of human rights obligations, i.e. in the present context the Government of Yemen, the members of the coalition, and the de facto authorities. 872. To meet international law standards, investigations into human rights and international humanitarian law violations have to be independent, impartial, prompt, thorough, effective, credible and transparent.1414 Where sufficient evidence exists, cases must be examined by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law.1415 Hence, States must ensure that their domestic legislation provides the necessary legal basis to enable domestic courts to duly exercise jurisdiction over cases where sufficient evidence of an international crime exists, in accordance with applicable principles of customary and treaty law.1416 873. Third States are also free to give their criminal courts jurisdiction over international crimes, including war crimes.1417 It is preferable that alleged perpetrators should be within the jurisdiction of a prosecuting State. The question of what third States are able to require of the parties to ensure compliance with IHL will be considered separately. 2. Available accountability mechanisms 874. This section examines accountability mechanisms put in place by the main parties to the conflict and duty-bearers that are presently functioning, namely the Government of Yemen’s National Commission of Inquiry (NCOI) and the coalition’s Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT). It further examines whether the de facto authorities have put in place any accountability mechanism to hold perpetrators of international law violations accountable. As outlined above, similar criteria are applied to both State entities and the de facto authorities, given the latter’s exercise of jurisdiction and effective control over parts of Yemeni territory. (a) The Government of Yemen’s National Commission of Inquiry 875. While there have been attempts by judicial authorities from the Government of Yemen to address violations of international law that allegedly occurred within the scope of the conflict, the Yemeni judicial system has been considerably weakened by the conflict and impacted by the hostilities, insecurity, various threats against its members, and the Government’s lack of effective authority, notably in parts of the South of Yemen. 876. The National Commission to Investigate Alleged Violations to Human Rights in Yemen (hereafter the National Commission of Inquiry, or “NCOI”) was established as an “independent national mechanism” pursuant to a Presidential Decree of 2012, and two further decrees in 2015 and 2017,1418 with the mandate to report and investigate all alleged human rights violations perpetrated in all governorates of Yemen that occurred since January 2011 and “until such time as the State regains full control over the territory of 1413 See Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law, Adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 60/147 of 16 December 2005. 1414 See for example Human Rights Committee, General Comment 36 (2018), para. 28; Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 31, para. 15. The Human Rights Committee has noted that a failure to investigate allegations could itself constitute a separate breach of the ICCPR. 1415 Art. 9 ICCPR, Art. 10 UDHR. 1416 See Updated Set of Principles for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights through Action to Combat Impunity, Principle 19 (https://documents-ddsny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G05/109/00/PDF/G0510900.pdf?OpenElement). 1417 ICRC Study on customary IHL, rule 157. 1418 The NCOI was established following the amendment by President Hadi on 7 September 2015 of Presidential Decree No. 140 of 22 September 2012. 209