Ethiopia: News - Despite Several Pleas, Draft Deadline to Extend UN Rights Experts' Ethiopia Mandate Expires

Eskinder Debebe / UN Photo
Radhika Coomaraswamy (left at dais), human rights advocate and member of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia, and Steven Ratner (right at dais), member of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia, brief reporters at UN Headquarters in October 2022.
4 October 2023
Addis Standard (Addis Ababa)

Addis Abeba — Despite repeated please from rights organizations worldwide, the deadline to submit a draft motion to extend the mandate of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE) at the 54th regular session of the United Nations Human Rights Council passed today at 1:00 PM CEST today.

In addition to global rights organizations including Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI), members of ICHREE cautioned on 3 October that "there is an overwhelming risk that human rights atrocities will continue Ethiopia, and it is vital that independent investigations into the country's dire human rights situation persist."

"We are gravely concerned about the situation in Ethiopia and the potential for future atrocities," said Mohamed Chande Othman, Chairperson of the Commission.

"One of the Human Rights Council's most important roles is to help prevent human rights violations and respond to human rights emergencies," said commission member Radhika Coomaraswamy. "The situation in Ethiopia clearly merits such attention and it is vital that this continues."

Philippe Dam, HRW's EU Director, lambasted the European Union mission at the UN in Geneva that the EU "went against all its stated principles by not tabling a draft to extend UN scrutiny over Ethiopia situation. 1st time EU leads decision to simply bury key UN inquiry."

A well placed source with knowledge to the matter told Addis Standard that EU's despite EU decision to not submit the draft motion Josep Borrell, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs, wrote a letter to all EU member states that even if ICHREE's mandate was not renewed, its report should remind member states to give "a very clear signal to [the] Ethiopian government that we will continue to follow up on Human Rights Situation in the country and importance of meaningful transitional justice system."

ICHREE said on Tuesday that its latest detailed findings are based on an assessment of the risk factors for atrocity crimes, which are considered to be the most serious crimes against humankind. These crimes - including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity - are identified in the UN Framework of Analysis for Atrocity Crimes. "The Commission's report found that all eight of the common risk factors and the majority the specific risk factors are now present in Ethiopia."

It report follows another report on 18 September which was presented to the UN Human Rights Council highlighting the gravity that nearly one year since the signing of an agreement to cease hostilities in Ethiopia, atrocities, war crimes and crimes against humanity are still being committed in the country and peace remains elusive.

"Violent confrontations are now at a near-national scale, with alarming reports of violations against civilians in the Amhara region and on-going atrocities in Tigray," Othman said. "The situation in Oromia, Amhara and other parts of the country - including ongoing patterns of violations, entrenched impunity, and increasing securitization of the state - bear hallmarked risks of further atrocities and crimes."

The Ethiopian government had been, from the get go, opposed to the appointment of the Experts in December 2021, voted to block the U.N. funding for it in July 2022 albeit unsuccessfully. Ethiopia maintained the Commission was established for a political purposes and has had uneasy relationship with it, accusing it of having "weaponized human rights for political pressure." The government has also never allowed the team to conduct its investigations on the ground.

Regardless, ICHREE submitted its initial findings in the context of the war in the Tigray region to the UN Human Rights Council in September last year, in which it concluded that "there are reasonable grounds to believe that violations, such as extrajudicial killings, rape, sexual violence, and starvation of the civilian population as a method of warfare have been committed in Ethiopia since 3 November 2020," and that there were "reasonable grounds to believe that, in several instances, these violations amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity."

"The Commission finds reasonable grounds to believe that the Federal Government and allied regional State governments have implemented a widespread range of measures designed to systematically deprive the population of Tigray of material and services indispensable for its survival, including healthcare, shelter, water, sanitation, education and food," the report said.

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