Kaari Betty MurungiChairman of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia, spoke on the sidelines Dong Nhan Quyen Association in Geneva.
The Commission received a report last week on the killings in Western Oromia, as it continued its work investigating rights violations related to the conflict in the northern Tigray region of Ethiopia, which broke out in November 2020.
Don’t forget Ethiopia
Despite many other conflicts around the world, Ms. Murungi said the world must not ignore what is happening in Ethiopia:
“The continued spread of violence, fueled by hate speech and incitement to violence based on ethnicity and gender, is early warning indicators of further atrocities against innocent civilians, especially women and children, who are more vulnerable. The expanding conflict makes the existing humanitarian crisis already unfolding in Ethiopia and the region worse.”
The Commission, established in December 2021, is tasked with conducting investigations to determine the facts and circumstances surrounding alleged violations and abuses of International Human Rights Law, International Humanitarian Law and International Refugee Law which all parties to the Ethiopian conflict have violated since November 2020.
Lack of access
“The severe humanitarian crisis is made worse by the lack of access to humanitarian assistance by civilians in some areas, including medical and food aid, the impediment of aid workers and the persistent drought. persistent, exacerbating the suffering of millions of people in Ethiopia and in the region,” Ms. Murungi said.
She added that “the Commission underlines the responsibility of the Ethiopian Government to put an end to such violations in its territory and to bring those responsible to justice.”
Since the outbreak of armed conflict in November 2020 in the northern Tigray region of Ethiopia, the Ethiopian National Forces, the Eritrean Army, the Amhara and other militias, and the central forces affiliated with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which forced hundreds of thousands of Tigrayans from their homes through threats and intimidation in a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing.
The violence escalated and began to affect the neighboring regions of Afar and Amhara, with Afar providing Tigray’s sole channel of access to aid.
Common Violations
The warring parties are accused of committing widespread human rights abuses, including massacres, gender-based violence, extrajudicial killings, forced evictions, and violence against refugee camps. victims and internally displaced persons.
In March of this year, the Ethiopian government announced a humanitarian truce, an agreement that opens up access to much-needed aid for people in the region.
Ethiopia ‘turns a page’
In response to the Commission’s report, Zenebe Kebebe Korcho, Ethiopia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, said that “the country is turning a page. The Ethiopian government has decided to seek a peaceful end to the conflict. A comprehensive national dialogue is launched to address political issues across the country. The government has taken many confidence-building measures.”
The Commission appointed in March is also tasked with providing guidance on transitional justice including accountability, national reconciliation, healing and making recommendations to the Ethiopian Government on these measures. .
According to ambassador Zenebe Kebebe Korcho, “Ethiopia has also taken steps to ensure accountability for alleged serious human rights violations. The Government of Ethiopia has facilitated the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission to conduct a joint investigation into the conflict in the Tigray region. ”
