UN human rights chief deploys assessment mission to South Sudan

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, on Monday deployed a mission to South Sudan to assess the country's human rights situation, given reports of alleged serious violations and abuses committed by both parties to the conflict there.

According to Zeid's office, the mission will focus on the human rights violations that have affected civilians since the outbreak of violence in December 2013. The assessment report will be presented to the Human Rights Council at its next session in March 2016.

"The team will examine violations of international human rights law and of international humanitarian law committed by actors on both sides of the political divide," the high commissioner said.

"Given the time constraints, this will be a preliminary assessment, building on the work done by the human rights division of the UN mission in South Sudan, and it will advise the Human Rights Council on appropriate follow-up action," he added.

The first three members of the 10-person strong assessment mission, mandated by the UN Human Rights Council, arrived in Juba at the end of last week.

The High Commissioner said the report, based on its findings and assessment, would contain recommendations for ways to improve the human rights situation in the country and to ensure accountability for gross violations.

In July, the UN Human Rights Council called for the deployment of a mission "to monitor and report on the situation of human rights, and to undertake a comprehensive assessment of allegations of violations and abuses of human rights with a view to ensuring accountability." Endit