Four Western countries propose rights violations and abuses monitor in Sudan

In a bid to identify and possibly prosecute perpetrators of human rights abuses in Sudan, four Western countries have proposed that the UN rights body appoints a special monitor and reports on violations of rights in the war-ravaged north African country. War broke out in April in Sudan following political disputes between the leaders of the army and rival paramilitary forces, RSF…

Four Western countries proposed on Wednesday that the United Nations’ top human rights agency appoint a team of specialists to monitor and report on human rights violations and abuses in war-torn Sudan.

Britain, Germany, Norway, and the United States are spearheading the push for the Human Rights Council to appoint a three-man fact-finding mission to investigate potential crimes against refugees, women, and children in Sudan.

Britain’s ambassador in Geneva, Simon Manley, told The Associated Press that “Reports indicate the most appalling violations and abuses by all parties to this wholly unnecessary conflict.”

He added that “it is crucial for an independent U.N. body to establish the facts, so that those responsible can be held to account and so that these heinous acts stop.”
The draft resolution is expected to be considered by the 47-member rights council in Geneva at the end of next week.

The fact-finding mission would seek to identify persons responsible for human rights violations and atrocities, with the aim of holding the perpetrators accountable later in the future.

Sudan was thrown into turmoil in April when political disputes between the military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, controlled by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, erupted into a full blown warfare.

The U.N. estimates that 5,000 people have been killed and several others injured.

It added that 5.2 million people have fled their homes, with more than one million crossing into neighboring countries, and around 25 million people — half of the country’s population — are in dire need of humanitarian assistance.