GENEVA: Four Western nations floated a proposal on Wednesday for the United Nations (UN) top human rights body to appoint a team of experts to monitor and report on abuses and rights violations in war-hit Sudan.
Germany, Norway, Britain, and the United States are leading the call for the Human Rights Council to name a three-member fact-finding mission to look into possible crimes against women, refugees, children, and others in Sudan, according to AFP.
Sudan was plunged into chaos when long-simmering tensions between the military, led by General Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary, headed by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, escalated into open warfare in April.
Human Tragedy in Sudan
The UN estimates that five thousand people have been killed and over 12,000 others injured since the conflict began.
More than 5.2 million people have fled their homes, including over 1 million who crossed into neighboring countries, and at least 25 million people — half of the country’s population — need humanitarian assistance, the UN says.
Simon Manley, Britain’s ambassador in Geneva, told a US media outlet that reports indicate the most appalling abuses and violations by all parties to this wholly unnecessary conflict. It is very important for an independent UN body to establish the facts, so that those responsible can be held to account and so that these heinous acts come to an end.
The draft resolution would come up for consideration by the 47-member rights council in Geneva at the end of next week, before the end of its fall session.
The fact-finding mission would aim in part to identify those responsible for abuses and rights violations, in the hope that one day perpetrators might be held to account.
