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Part One. Article 24 219Rolling text (A/AC.254/4/Rev.5)“Article 18“Protection of witnesses and victims“1. Each State Party shall adopt appropriate measures [within its means] to provideeffective protection from potential retaliation or intimidation for witnesses in itscriminal proceedings who agree to give testimony concerning the crimes covered bythis Convention and, as appropriate, for their relatives and other persons close to them.“2. The measures envisaged in paragraph 1 of this article may include, amongother things, without prejudice to the rights of the defendant, including the right todue process:“(a) Establishing procedures for the physical protection of such persons, suchas, to the extent necessary and feasible, relocating them, and permitting, where appropriate,non-disclosure or limitations on the disclosure of information concerning theidentity and whereabouts of such persons;“(b) Providing evidentiary rules to permit witness testimony to be given in amanner that ensures the safety of the witness, such as permitting testimony to begiven through the use of communications technology such as video links or otheradequate means.“3. States Parties shall consider entering into arrangements with other Statesfor the relocation of persons described in paragraph 1 of this article.” 11Seventh session: 17-28 January 2000Notes by the Secretariat2. Delegations based their comments on the text of article 18 of the revised draft conventioncontained in document A/AC.254/4/Rev.6, which was the same as that containedin document A/AC.254/4/Rev.5.Rolling text (A/AC.254/4/Rev.7)“Article 18 12“Protection of witnesses“1. Each State Party shall adopt appropriate measures within its means to provideeffective protection from potential retaliation or intimidation for witnesses in itscriminal proceedings who give testimony concerning the crimes covered by thisConvention and, as appropriate, for their relatives and other persons close to them.11Former paragraph 4 was replaced by a new article 18 bis, the text of which was proposed by the Chairman of theAd Hoc Committee at its fifth session.12The text of this article was provisionally approved at the informal consultations held during the seventh session ofthe Ad Hoc Committee and recommended by the Chairmen of the informal consultations as the basis for the considerationand approval of the article by the Ad Hoc Committee at its eighth session.