In a statement released on Monday, the Council's President, Ambassador Baudelaire Ndong Ella (Gabon), announced that the human rights body appointed Amal Alamuddin (United Kingdom), Doudou Diène (Senegal) and William Schabas (Canada) to serve as members on the international Commission. Mr. Schabas will also serve as the Commission's Chair.
The Commission aims to establish the facts and circumstances of violations and crimes perpetrated and to identify those responsible. It will also make recommendations, in particular on accountability measures, all with a view to avoiding and ending impunity and ensuring that those responsible are held accountable, and on ways to protect civilians against any further assaults.
The Council had decided- by a vote of 29 countries in favor, with 17 abstentions and a sole negative vote by the United States- to launch the inquiry at its emergency meeting on 23 July.
The same resolution requested that the Commission present a written report to the Human Rights Council at its session in March 2015.
Mr. Diène was the United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, xenophobia and related intolerance from 2002 to 2008. He also served as Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Côte d'Ivoire from 2011 to 2014.
Ms. Schabas, a professor of international criminal law and human rights, served on the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission until 2004. Mr. Schabas was also a member of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in Human Rights.
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