News In Brief

Afghan human rights inquiry commissioned by UN panel

The United Nations Human Rights Commission has appointed an Austrian professor to undertake an unprecedented inquiry into alleged abuses of human rights in Afghanistan. Felix Ermacora, a professor of public law at Vienna University and a member of the Austrian parliament, has been asked to carry out an in-depth investigation and submit a report for the commission's session next spring.

Soviet delegates, supported by India, Libya, and Mozambique, attempted to have the resolution thrown out but were defeated after one of the bitterest debates in the commission's 38-year history. Kabul indicated it would not cooperate with the inquiry.