• Do not make facts public until it is safe to do so. The prospective redress body determines whether and at what stage disclosure becomes a safe option. The decision cannot be made arbitrarily neither by the informant nor by the unofficial investigator. • Information should always be considered and treated as confidential unless the source expressly agrees to pass it on to others. This should be done only if strictly necessary. • First responders need to try to anticipate with which parties the information may be shared, if relevant, in the future, and seek consent already in the collection stage for sharing the content with such third parties. • Never submit information to third parties before having discussed doing so with the source and having obtained his/her consent. 197 • The source has to be made aware of and fully understand the reasons and consequences of making the information public. • Security risks always have to be thoroughly assessed by persons qualified to do so before making information public. • Similarly, a trained professional should assess the emotional state of the victim, witness, or other source before making information public.198 Confidentiality is required from the moment of first contact with a source and continues throughout all subsequent contacts. This also means that it is important to ensure confidentiality for the manner in which information is stored, transported, and used. 199 When a court, tribunal or commission requests information for their proceedings, this may require a reconsideration of confidentiality. Such institutions are supposed to operate with the best interest of the victim and witness in mind and they should implement measures to protect them security risks. Unofficial investigators generally have the possibility to negotiate and implement confidentiality measures, such as anonymity, in 197 International Bar Association & Raoul Wallenberg Institute, Guidelines on International Human Rights Fact-Finding Visits and Reports, paragraph 42 (2009), available at http://www.factfindingguidelines.org/guidelines.html. 198 Amnesty International and CODESRIA, Ukweli. Monitoring and Documenting Human Rights Violations in Africa: A Handbook, 36 (2000), available at https://www.amnesty.nl/sites/default/files/public/ukw_eng.pdf. 199 Marit Maehlum, Human Rights Monitoring, in MANUAL ON HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORING. AN INTRODUCTION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS FIELD OFFICERS 1, 24 (Kristin Hogdahl, Ingrid Kvammen Ekkerr and Lalaine Sadiwa, eds., 2002). 126

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