UN renews mandate of its human rights commission in S. Sudan

March 24, 2018 (JUBA) – The United Nations renewed the mandate of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan for a period of one year.

Established in 2016, the Commission has to conduct independent investigations into alleged gross violations and abuses of human rights and related crimes in the war-torn country.

The investigation UN panel which has to provide its findings to the hybrid court for South Sudan, to be established in cooperation with the African Union, submitted its first report on 6 March 2017 and the second on 13 March 2018.

The 37th Human Rights Council session in Geneva concluded on Friday its works with the adoption of a resolution extending the mandate of UN Commission in South Sudan.

Adopted without a vote, the resolution said deeply alarmed by the report of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, noting that some of the human rights violations may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The United States introduced a resolution on South Sudan that the Council adopted with broad cross-regional support, said the State Department in a statement released on Friday.

“We worked closely with South Sudan, members of the African Group, and other member states to ensure the text was adopted by consensus,” said the statement.

Washington further hailed South Sudan’s support for the resolution adding that Juba “reaffirmed its commitment to continue cooperating with the Commission and UN bodies and mechanisms”.

South Sudanese, regional and international human rights groups called on the Council members to renew and strengthen the mandate of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan pointing for the importance of its role to achieve justice and to end impunity.

“The HRC should also strengthen the resolution to make explicit that the mandate of the Commission includes the identification of individual perpetrators, with a view to enable future prosecutions,” they further requested.

(ST)