New UN rights expert pays first visit to Sudan
January 24, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – The newly appointed Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in the Sudan, Justice Mohamed Chande Othman, began his first official visit to Sudan on Saturday 23.
Othman, who was appointed last October, succeeds Sima Samar, the former Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Sudan. Last June, Sudan lobbied the UN Human Rights Council to end Sima Samar’s mandate and the scrutiny over the human right situation on its territory.
But the 47 member council decided to appoint an independent expert on the situation in Sudan. The independent expert will continue the work carried out by the special rapporteur on Sudan of reporting to the Human Rights Council on the situation in the country, including the implementation of recommendations made on Darfur.
The mandate of the new “independent expert”, however, is narrower than that of the previous UN rapporteur, according to the Former Coordinator of the UN Panel of Experts on Sudan Enrico Carisch.
Justice Othman’s mandate “restricts him to focus only on the work of the Human Rights Forum – a joint operation between the Government of Sudan and UNAMID. UNAMID, in turn, is unable to protect even its own Darfurian employees from severe human rights violations committed by the National Intelligence and Security Services,” Carisch testified to the United States Congress on December 3, 2009.
It is unclear, however, whether the new rights envoy must interpret his mandate in this narrow sense. In its resolution establishing the position, the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council did specifically request that the new Independent Expert work with the UNAMID rights forum, but the resolution also stated that the expert “shall assume the mandate and responsibilities” set forth for the previous rapporteur in earlier resolutions.
In an interview with press today in Khartoum, he pledged interest and commitment seeking to better work together with local authorities as well as the government of the host country.
The Tanzanian national will be holding a series of close meetings for the next 17 days with various stakeholders in Khartoum, Southern Sudan, the Three Areas and Darfur.
The independent expert during his one-year mandate will attempt to gather first-hand information on the human rights situation in Sudan, to engage in constructive dialogue with the Government of National Unity and the Government of Southern Sudan on human rights concerns and to follow up among others on the recommendations made by the Group of Experts on Darfur.
“I look forward to working very closely with all stakeholders to fulfill my mandate” he said, adding that he feels honored to have been given such a challenging assignment.
Among his priorities for this visit include the general human rights protection issues since June 2009, new developments and future events that may have an impact on human rights in Sudan and technical assistance/cooperation with the Government of Sudan.
Mr. Othman’s visit is coordinated by UNMIS, UNAMID and the Government of Sudan Advisory Council on Human Rights and will end 11 February.
Mr. Othman’s resume indicates that he is currently serving Tanzania government as the chair of Justice of the Appeal Court in the country.
Prior to this position, he has previously served in a number of high level posts including as Prosecutor-General of East Timor Special Court, as a member of High Level Commission of Inquiry on Lebanon and as Chief of Prosecution at the Arusha-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
(ST)