UN human rights experts begins mission to S. Sudan, Ethiopia
August 19, 2019(JUBA) – Members of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan on Monday started their seventh field mission to South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia.
The experts, led by Yasmin Sooka, will be in South Sudan from August 19-24. The other members are Andrew Clapham and Barney Afako.
The commissioners are expected to meet government officials, including key ministers, members of civil society, religious leaders, diplomats and UN agencies and staff of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), including the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of UN mission in South Sudan, David Shearer, to discuss the current human rights situation in the country.
“The commissioners also intend to visit camps and settlements for internally displaced persons across the country, including UNMISS Protection of Civilian (PoC) sites, to meet the people living there, community leaders and civil society organizations, including women organizations,” partly reads a UN statement issued Monday.
The UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan is an independent body mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to determine and report the facts and circumstances of, collect and preserve evidence of, and clarify responsibility for alleged gross violations and abuses of human rights and related crimes, including sexual and gender-based violence and ethnic violence, with a view to ending impunity and providing accountability, among others.
Meanwhile, the Commission is expected to present an oral update on the human rights situation in South Sudan to the Human Rights Council on 16 September 2019 and a comprehensive written report in March 2020.
(ST)