The UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday appointed a Norwegian judge who has served on several international courts to lead an investigation into violations committed in Russia's Ukraine war.
Erik Mose, a former judge on Norway's supreme court and on the European Court of Human Rights, and previously president of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, was named chair of the newly created independent international commission of inquiry.
Human Rights Council president Federico Villegas also appointed Jasminka Dzumhur, the human rights ombudsperson of Bosnia Herzegovina, and Pablo de Greiff of Colombia, who has served as the UN's top expert on the promotion of truth, justice and reparations, to the three-person team.
The top UN rights body agreed in a historic vote earlier this month to establish the highest-level probe possible into abuses committed leading up to and since Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Thousands of people have died and millions have been displaced since Russia invaded its pro-Western neighbour.
In a resolution voted through on March 4, the council condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the violations resulting from Russia's "aggression" against Ukraine.
The text, presented by Kyiv, called for the "swift and verifiable withdrawal of Russian Federation troops and Russian-backed armed groups from the entire territory of Ukraine".
And it ordered the creation of an independent international commission of inquiry "to investigate all alleged violations and abuses... in the context of the Russian Federation's aggression against Ukraine."
The three investigators will be asked to "establish the facts, circumstances, and root causes of any such violations and abuses," and to gather evidence "with a view to ensuring that those responsible are held accountable," according to the resolution.
The International Criminal Court in The Hague has also already begun investigating possible war crimes in Ukraine.
