(September 29, 2012) The United Nation’s top human rights body on Friday extended
by six months the mission of its independent expert panel probing alleged war crimes
in Syria's 18-month conflict. The body also named renowned former U.N. war crimes
prosecutor Carla Del Ponte to the panel, in a sign of stepped-up efforts to gather
evidence against members of Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime. The panel has
blamed Syria's government forces for the majority of serious abuses since the uprising
began in March 2011. The collected evidence could one day be used in a war crimes
tribunal hearing - although none is so far planned at the International Criminal Court
in The Hague, Netherlands. Along with Del Ponte, the U.N. Human Rights Council also
named Vitit Muntarbhorn, a Thai professor who has investigated human rights in North
Korea. Last week, the panel submitted a confidential second list of suspected war
crimes perpetrators to the U.N. human rights office. The mandate of the panel, led
by Brazilian professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, was due to expire at the end of the
month. Members of the 47-nation Human Rights Council voted 41 to three in favour
of a resolution put forward by Arab states. Three countries abstained. Russia, China
and Cuba opposed the resolution. The resolution, which extends the mission until the
council's next session in March, was drawn up by a number of Arab, Western and developing
countries.