UN rights council votes in favor of international investigation into abuses in Ethiopia

The UN Human Rights Council voted on Friday to establish an independent investigation into abuses in the Ethiopia conflict, after a senior UN official said there had been violations on all sides and mass arrests under the repression of the government.

Ethiopia said it was “extremely disappointed” by the move and vowed not to cooperate, describing the mechanism as “politically motivated”.

The resolution, tabled by the European Union and backed by Western states, was passed over objections from Ethiopia, which dismissed the abuse allegations and said it had already cooperated in investigations into the year-long war.

“Several of these violations may constitute crimes against humanity and urgently require further investigation by independent experts,” the EU delegation to the UN in Geneva said in a statement welcoming the decision.

The resolution establishes a three-member panel of experts for one year to gather evidence and identify those responsible for the violations with a view to future prosecutions.

“Ethiopia would like to reiterate that it will not cooperate with the established mechanism that was imposed on it against its consent,” the government said in a statement.

“No more double standards; no more unilateral coercive measures; and no more meddling in internal affairs under the guise of human rights.”

Earlier, Ethiopia’s envoy to the UN in Geneva, Zenebe Kebede, denounced what he said was a series of abuses by rebel forces in the northern region of Tigray.

The EU’s request to hold a special session to investigate what has already been investigated and reported to the HRC and is now being implemented by Ethiopia is puzzling, regrettable and counterproductive. Are you going to throw away the research done @ stop its implementation? 1/3

– Zenebe Kebede (@kebede_zenebe) December 16, 2021

Thousands of civilians have been killed and millions have fled in the conflict between the federal government and rebel forces, including fighters loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which dominated Ethiopia’s ruling coalition for nearly 30 years.

There was no immediate comment from the TPLF on Friday. In the past, it has been said that individual soldiers or militias may have committed abuses that should be investigated, but that the regular Tigrayan forces are well disciplined.

‘Serious concern’

The vote on the motion after a one-day special session was 21 states in favor, 15 against, including China and Russia, with 11 abstentions at the 47-member forum in Geneva.

The African Group of countries had also called for the resolution to be rejected, saying the proposed investigation mechanism was “counterproductive and would likely exacerbate tensions.”

But six African countries, including Senegal and Sudan, broke ranks and abstained.

UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada al-Nashif told the session that all parties to the deepening conflict in northern Ethiopia are committing serious human rights violations and must withdraw from the war. .

An estimated 5,000 to 7,000 people are being detained, including nine UN staff members, under a state of emergency and its “excessively broad disposition” declared by the government last month, he said.

“Many are being held incommunicado or in unknown locations. This amounts to enforced disappearance and is a matter of great concern,” he said.

Zenebe from Ethiopia did not comment directly on the arrests. But he said the state-appointed Ethiopian Human Rights Commission had already worked with the UN rights office to investigate the abuse allegations and was ready to do so again.

That joint investigation published last month found that all parties to the Tigray conflict had committed violations that may constitute war crimes.

Some Tigrayan groups criticized the investigation, saying it had ignored many well-documented and widely reported mass killings. The government also complained that it had not covered the crimes committed by the Tigrayan forces in the Amhara region. But the report said that it could not be an exhaustive list of all crimes.

The US State Department said on Friday that Washington is “gravely concerned” by unconfirmed reports alleging mass arrests, killings and forced evictions of ethnic Tigrayans in western Tigray by Amhara security forces.

(REUTERS)