UN Human Rights Council appoints new expert for Sudan

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Friday designated Adama Dieng as an expert on human rights in Sudan, following a request from the UN Human Rights Council. The designation follows a special session of the Council held on Sudan on 5 November, to discuss the implications of the October 25 military takeover on the human rights situation in the country, after which the Council adopted resolution HRC/RES/S-32/1, which requested the High Commissioner to designate an expert on human rights in Sudan.

A press statement form the Council announced that the High Commissioner has designated Adama Dieng, a Senegalese national. According to the resolution, Dieng will monitor the developing human rights situation in Sudan with the assistance of, and in close cooperation with, the UN Joint Human Rights Office in Sudan. In performing his duties, he will pay special attention to victims and ensure a gender perspective. He will engage with all relevant parties, including civil society.

The work undertaken by Dieng will contribute to the written report that the High Commissioner will present to the Human Rights Council in its fiftieth session in June 2022.

Dieng is currently a member of the United Nations Internal Justice Council and the Special Adviser to the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity. He is a former UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide. Before joining the UN, for 10 years, Dieng was the Secretary-General of the International Commission of Jurists. Dieng also served as Registrar of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda from 2001 to 2008. He helped establish the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and produced the draft of the African Convention to fight corruption. He has led many fact-finding missions on human rights and rule of law as well as trial observation missions.

He will assume his duties immediately, and his term of office as an expert for Sudan will conclude upon restoration of the country’s civilian-led government.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has urged all Sudanese parties to cooperate with Dieng to ensure the implementation of the Human Rights Council resolution.