A/HRC/25/CRP.1 understood that the Commission has decided to introduce them for the purpose of providing an example or an illustration of broader human rights issues and/or patterns of conduct. F. Archiving and record-keeping of testimony 79. With the assistance of relevant OHCHR sections, a confidential electronic database was specially created from an OHCHR standard model to enable the Commission to securely record and store information pertaining to its mandate. Specifically, the use of the database enabled the Commission to: (a) safely manage, follow-up and archive information; (b) keep information secure, including through encryption; (c) retrieve and analyse information; and (d) adhere to a sound human rights monitoring and reporting methodology. 80. The database contains the summary records of all interviews conducted with witnesses as well as electronic copies of relevant materials gathered during the course of the inquiry. As a fully searchable tool, the database facilitated the logical organization and retrieval of information for analysis, establishing trends and patterns which assisted in the writing of this report. 81. The free, informed and specific consent of interviewees to use and/or share information gathered was recorded in the database, as was any additional assessment of the Commission about possible protection risks of using and/or sharing the information received even when interviewees freely consented to its use. 82. The Commission of Inquiry has requested the High Commissioner for Human Rights to safeguard the confidential database. The Commission has also informed the High Commissioner of its wish that the database remain a living instrument that will continue to be updated and expanded. The database should therefore be made accessible in full to OHCHR, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and any future United Nations mechanisms tasked to protect human rights in the DPRK. 83. Furthermore, the Commission has authorized the High Commissioner, acting as the residual Secretariat of the Commission, to provide access to the existing materials contained in the database to competent authorities that carry out credible investigations for the purposes of ensuring accountability for crimes and other violations committed, establishing the truth about violations committed or implementing United Nationsmandated targeted sanctions against particular individuals or institutions. Access should only be granted to the extent that witnesses or other sources of information concerned have given their informed consent and that any protection and operational concerns are duly addressed. To ensure that the information gathered by the Commission is preserved in its integrity once the Commission has fulfilled its mandate, the physical records of the Commission will also be archived in accordance with United Nations archiving practices.15 84. At this stage of the history of the Korean people, the creation and maintenance of an archive of the testimony of individual witnesses on human rights abuses in the DPRK and the writings of experts is an important contribution to human rights awareness and eventual accountability. Among the greatest affronts to the achievement and maintenance of 15 18 Secretary-General’s Bulletin, Record-keeping and the management of United Nations archives, 12 February 2007 (ST/SGB/2007/5).