UNHRC extends term of fact-finding mission in Sudan

GENEVA, Oct. 10 (YPA) – The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) voted last Wednesday in favor of extending the mission of the fact-finding mission regarding the situation in Sudan, in light of the ongoing war there, despite Khartoum’s objections.

Only 23 of the 47 member states of the Council voted in favor of extending the term of the independent international mission for another year, while 12 countries opposed it, and 12 others abstained from voting.

Last October, UNHRC established this body to investigate alleged violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law in Sudan during the war.

Britain, Germany, Norway, and the United States had proposed renewing the mission’s mandate for another year and submitted a draft resolution that the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Sudan to the Council in Geneva, Hassan Hamid Hassan, described as “unjust.”

British Ambassador Simon Manley, who introduced the draft resolution, said that the fact-finding mission documented some of the “horrendous suffering” endured by Sudanese civilians in this “senseless, brutal war.”

Manley added, “We need independent monitoring. We need to document these atrocities.”

YPA