The United Nations Secretary-General has announced the appointment of a former French judge to lead a legal team in Geneva that will investigate evidence of war crimes being committed in Syria.
Catherine Marchi-Uhel was appointed by UN secretary general António Guterres to head the investigative body known as the “International Impartial and Independent Mechanism”.
It was created after an UN General Assembly decision last year, and has the mandate "to collect, consolidate, preserve and analyse evidence of violations of international humanitarian law and human rights violations and abuses and prepare files in order to facilitate and expedite fair and independent criminal proceedings".
Ms Marchi-Uhel has had international experience dealing with violations of international humanitarian law previously, having been the principal legal adviser for the international tribunal in the former Yugoslavia, and sat as a judge on the United Nations-Cambodian tribunal.