UN Human Rights Council initiates investigation in Ethiopia conflict human rights abuses

Whilst the war in Ukraine overshadowed all other diplomatic activity in the last days, other issues continue to be dealt with in various diplomatic fora. Last week, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) initiated an investigation into violations of human rights in the conflict in northern Ethiopia. Its chair, former chief prosecutor of the ICC, Fatou Bensouda, will lead the three-chair panel, the council announced.

The panel is to investigate claims of human rights violations in the Tigray region, the epicenter of the civil war that has tainted Ethiopia for the past 18 months. Since the start of the conflict, in November of 2020, there have been reports of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by both the Tigray People’s Liberation Front’s (TPLF) and government forces.

A report, published by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, as well as the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in November 2021 already pointed towards crimes committed by the parties to the war. The report outlines attacks on civilians, unlawful killings, as well as torture committed by Tigrayan, Ethiopian, Eritrean forces, and their allied militias. The panel that is to investigate and further collect evidence of these crimes was initiated by a December UNHRC vote on the proposal, tabled by the European Union.

Along with Bensouda, the Chair of the UNHRC, Federico Villegas, announced the appointment of Kenyan lawyer Kaari Betty Murungi and American law professor Steven Ratner. The panel’s mandate stretches out to a year of investigation, upon which the UNHRC can decide whether it should be extended or not. Should the panel find evidence of prosecutable crimes, they are likely to lead to an International Criminal Court trial against the responsible parties.

After the confirmation of such a panel in the UNHRC vote of December, the Ethiopian government announced its refusal to support any such investigation into war crimes. Along with the African Group—one of 5 UN Regional Groups—Russia and China voted against the motion to establish the panel.

No more to double standards; no more to unilateral coercive measures; and no more to meddling in internal affairs under the pretext of human rights”, the Ethiopian government announced in a statement.

According to the UN, the Ethiopia-Tigray conflict has led to the deaths of thousands, more than two million displaced people and hundreds of thousands in near-starvation conditions. Despite the government’s release of many illegally held prisoners and the lifting of its state of emergency, the war continues to claim lives. Earlier this week, reports of a government blockade causing an acute lack of medical supplies in the Tigray region were published by the UN.

The investigative panel is due to provide an intermediate oral report of its findings during the 15th session of the UNHRC in June of this year.

Sources: Reuters Africa, africanews, OHCHR (Geneva)
Photo: the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland

Related articles

Editor's choice
News
Borrell tells the European Parliament that the situation in Afghanistan was critical, but the EU will remain engaged

Borrell tells the European Parliament that the situation in Afghanistan was critical, but the EU will remain engaged

Borrell underlined that the European Union will make every effort to support the peace process and to remain a committed partner to the Afghan people. "Of course, we will have to take into account the evolving situation, but disengagement is not an option.  We are clear on that: there is no alternative to a negotiated political settlement, through inclusive peace talks.
Editor's choice
News
Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees released as Trump’s Gaza plan is endorsed in Egypt summit

Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees released as Trump’s Gaza plan is endorsed in Egypt summit

Hamas freed the last living Israeli hostages from Gaza on Monday 13 October under a ceasefire deal and Israel sent home busloads of Palestinian detainees, as U.S. President Donald Trump declared the end of the two-year long war in the Middle East. Hours later, Trump convened Muslim and European leaders in Egypt to discuss the future of the Gaza Strip and the possibility of a wider regional peace, even as Hamas and Israel, both absent from the gathering, are yet to agree on the next steps. The Israeli military said it had received all 20 hostages confirmed to be alive, after their transfer form Gaza by the Red Cross. The announcement prompted cheering, hugging and weeping among thousands waiting at "Hostage Square" in Tel Aviv. In Gaza, thousands of relatives, many weeping with joy, gathered at a hospital where buses brought home some of the nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees to be freed by Israel as part of the accord. "The skies are calm, the guns are silent, the sirens are still and the sun rises on a Holy Land that is finally at peace," Trump told the Knesset, Israel's parliament, saying a "long nightmare" for both Israelis and Palestinians was over.

Popular

Editor's choice
News
Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees released as Trump’s Gaza plan is endorsed in Egypt summit

Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees released as Trump’s Gaza plan is endorsed in Egypt summit

Hamas freed the last living Israeli hostages from Gaza on Monday 13 October under a ceasefire deal and Israel sent home busloads of Palestinian detainees, as U.S. President Donald Trump declared the end of the two-year long war in the Middle East. Hours later, Trump convened Muslim and European leaders in Egypt to discuss the future of the Gaza Strip and the possibility of a wider regional peace, even as Hamas and Israel, both absent from the gathering, are yet to agree on the next steps. The Israeli military said it had received all 20 hostages confirmed to be alive, after their transfer form Gaza by the Red Cross. The announcement prompted cheering, hugging and weeping among thousands waiting at "Hostage Square" in Tel Aviv. In Gaza, thousands of relatives, many weeping with joy, gathered at a hospital where buses brought home some of the nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees to be freed by Israel as part of the accord. "The skies are calm, the guns are silent, the sirens are still and the sun rises on a Holy Land that is finally at peace," Trump told the Knesset, Israel's parliament, saying a "long nightmare" for both Israelis and Palestinians was over.