UN sets up inquiry into South Sudan human rights violations

The three-member commission will investigate the country's human rights abuses that may constitute war crimes.

UN peacekeepers from the Rwandese battalion patrolling along a road as internally displaced South Sudanese people go about their daily routines in Malakal. Source: Getty Images

The United Nations Human Rights Council decided on Wednesday to set up a three-person commission to investigate human rights abuses in South Sudan, making a last minute amendment to a resolution to significantly bolster scrutiny of the country.

 

The Council had been considering mandating a single expert, a proposal initiated by the United States and Albania. But after an oral amendment, it agreed by consensus to set up the commission, with a renewable one-year mandate.

 

South Sudan said it would cooperate with the commission, which is charged with looking gang rapes, destruction of

villages and attacks on civilians that may constitute war crimes.