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Reuters
www.reuters.com
Thursday, May 15, 2003

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GENEVA (Reuters) - U.S.-led forces must protect the sites of mass graves discovered in Iraq and allow forensic experts to preserve evidence for possible prosecutions, the top United Nations human rights official said Thursday.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello said action was especially urgent because families were already picking through piles of bones, believed to be of victims of ousted president Saddam Hussein's rule.

"The high commissioner has urged the government of the United States and coalition partners to ensure the immediate protection and integrity of mass graves sites and other evidence," Vieira de Mello said in a statement.

"Equally, appropriate access to these sites by independent forensic experts will be vital in preserving the integrity of such evidence."

For some families, the discovery of graves across Iraq has brought a bitter conclusion to years of worry about the fate of relatives who went missing under Saddam, toppled by U.S.-led forces last month.

But human rights groups are concerned that evidence of the atrocities could be lost forever.

Vieira de Mello said the evidence must be given to the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Iraq and to any "jurisdictions that might be established to deal with grave violations of human rights committed by the former regime."