Plea for Security Council commission to probe human rights

The New York based organisation, Human Rights Watch, has called for the establishment of a Security Council commission to determine responsibility for human rights abuses in the DRC. In an open to letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the organisation welcomed the “urgency” the UN was attaching to the situation in DRC, and agreed that there now existed a window of opportunity for peace in the country. “All efforts must be made to end the cycles of violence and impunity that have devastated the civilian population for so long,” the letter stated. It said an end to impunity required thorough documentation of abuses as a precondition to impartial justice. “We urge you to call upon the Security Council to establish a commission of experts to investigate and determine responsibility for grave violations of human rights and humanitarian law in the DRC,” the letter said. HRW recommended that the commission should be given a clearly defined and publicly known mandate to avoid dispute and to protect it from possible attempts to change its scope or working methods. It should also be composed of experts whose experience, competence, integrity and impartiality would ensure the credibility of their findings. “The Security Council should make the findings of the investigation public immediately, and determine an appropriate judicial mechanism to bring those responsible to justice,” the letter concluded.