GENEVA - The President of the Human Rights Council, Ambassador Jürg Lauber (Switzerland), has announced the appointment of Arnauld Akodjenou of Benin, Maxine Marcus of Germany/United States of America and Clément Nyaletsossi Voule of Togo to serve as the three independent members of the recently established Independent Commission of Inquiry on the human rights situation in the South and North Kivu provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mr. Akodjenou will serve as chair of the commission.
With resolution S-37/1 of 7 February 2025, adopted at a special session on the situation of human rights in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Human Rights Council decided to establish an independent commission of inquiry, comprising three experts appointed by the President of the Human Rights Council.
The commission of inquiry was mandated to "investigate and establish the facts, circumstances and root causes of all the alleged violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law, including those affecting women and children, those involving sexual or gender-based violence and those committed against internally displaced persons or refugees, and of potential international crimes in the context of the most recent escalation of hostilities in North Kivu and South Kivu Provinces [of the Democratic Republic of the Congo] in January 2025."
The three-person commission was further requested to "identify, to the extent possible, the persons and entities responsible for violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law, as well as any international crimes, in the context of the most recent escalation of hostilities in North Kivu and South Kivu Provinces in order to ensure that those responsible are held accountable for their actions."
The President of the Human Rights Council sought recommendations from various stakeholders and expressions of interest to find highly qualified and impartial candidates to fill these positions.
In resolution 60/22, adopted on 7 October 2025 at its sixtieth session, the Council reaffirmed "that the mandate of the members of the independent commission of inquiry remains entirely as set out in resolution S-37/1" and requested that their appointment be made before the end of 2025. It further requested that they carry out their first field visit "at the earliest opportunity and, if possible, by January 2026 at the latest."
Resolution 60/22 also requested the members of the commission "present an oral update on the situation of human rights in North Kivu and South Kivu Provinces, within the framework of an enhanced interactive dialogue, at [the Human Rights Council's] sixty-second session [in June-July 2026]" and to "submit a comprehensive report [to the Human Rights Council] on the situation of human rights in the above-mentioned provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, within the framework of an enhanced interactive dialogue, at its sixty-fourth session [in February-April 2027] and to the General Assembly at its eighty-second session [in 2027]."
Biographies of the members of the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the human rights situation in the South and North Kivu provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Arnauld Akodjenou (Benin) is currently serving as Special Advisor for Africa at the Kofi Annan Foundation. From 2014 to 2015, he held the position of Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General at the Assistant Secretary-General level in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). Prior to that, from 2011 to 2014, he served as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI). Mr. Akodjenou dedicated over 25 years to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), where he held several senior roles, including Regional Coordinator and Special Adviser to the High Commissioner for the South Sudan situation, Inspector General, Director of the Division of Operational Services, and Director of Emergency and Security Services.
Maxine Marcus (Germany/United States of America) is an international criminal prosecutor and investigator with 28 years field-based and courtroom-based practice. She spent nine years as a prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and prior to that served as an investigator at the Special Court for Sierra Leone. She served on the UN Commission of Inquiry for Guinea as the Gender and International Criminal Law Adviser; Senior Sexual and Gender-based Violence Advisor to the OHCHR Fact Finding Mission for Sri Lanka; and Senior Legal Investigator to the UN Secretary General's External Panel on Sexual Abuse by International Forces in the Central African Republic. She currently serves at the Institute for International Criminal Investigations and is the 2018 recipient of the Prominent Women in International Law Award by the American Society of International Law. Ms. Marcus is co-director of Partners in Justice International.
Clément Voule (Togo) is a jurist and human rights expert, and the former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. Prior to his appointment as Special Rapporteur, he served as Advocacy Director for Africa at the International Service for Human Rights, where he worked to support and protect human rights defenders across the region. Mr. Voule has held several leadership roles in civil society including for the Togolese Coalition of Human Rights Defenders, the Togolese Coalition for the International Criminal Court, and the Amnesty International section in Togo. From 2010 to 2018, he served as an Expert Member of the Working Group on Extractive Industries, Environment, and Human Rights Violations under the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.
