UN chief appoints Christian Ritscher of Germany as UNITAD head

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 7 — United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday appointed Christian Ritscher of Germany as his special adviser and head of the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da’esh/ISIL (UNITAD), established pursuant to Security Council Resolution 2379 (2017).
Ritscher will succeed Karim Asad Ahmad Khan of Britain, who was the first special adviser of UNITAD and held the position from July 2018 until his resignation, effective June 15, 2021, according to a press note issued by the secretary-general’s office.
The secretary-general expresses his gratitude to Khan for his contributions toward the pursuit of accountability for crimes committed by ISIL (Da’esh) and his efforts with regard to the speedy establishment and full functioning of UNITAD, it said.
Ritscher previously served as a federal public prosecutor at the German Federal Court of Justice, with more than 30 years of professional experience in international and domestic criminal law prosecutions and investigations. He was head of the German War Crimes Unit S4, which is responsible for the prosecution and charging of individuals in Germany in relation to international crimes, that may have been committed elsewhere, including in Iraq and Syria. This included prosecutions against alleged members of ISIL (Da’esh) for genocide committed against the Yazidi community in Iraq in 2014, as well as other charges of international crimes, said the press note.
UNITAD is an independent, impartial investigative team, mandated by the UN Security Council to support efforts to hold ISIL members accountable for their crimes. Based in Baghdad, Iraq, UNITAD was established as a unanimous response from the international community to a request for assistance from the government of Iraq. (Xinhua)