The President of the Human Rights Council, Ambassador Federico Villegas (Argentina), yesterday announced the appointment of Fatou Bensouda of Gambia, Kaari Betty Murungi of Kenya and Steven Ratner of the United States of America to serve as the three members of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia. Bensouda will serve as Chair of the three-person Commission.
Through resolution S-33/1 of 17 December 2021, adopted at its special session, the Human Rights Council decided to establish an international commission of human rights, to be appointed by the President of the Human Rights Council, to conduct an impartial investigation into allegations of violations and abuses of international human rights, humanitarian and refugee law in Ethiopia committed since November 3, 2020 by all parties to the conflict.
The three-person Commission was also asked to “establish the facts and circumstances surrounding the alleged violations and abuses, collect and preserve evidence, to identify those responsible, where possible, and to make such information accessible and usable in support of ongoing and future accountability efforts”.
With the same resolution, the 47-member body mandated the Commission to build upon the report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and to make recommendations on technical assistance to the Government of Ethiopia in support of accountability, reconciliation and healing.
