Ensuring national ownership of the transitional justice process need not preclude drawing on valuable international expertise.
Ethiopia's transitional justice process has grappled with the issue of international involvement from the start.
The country's green paper on transitional justice policy options issued in January 2023 rejected international or hybrid tribunals. That, along with the government's resistance to the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia, has contributed to the global community's perception that Ethiopia's process is one of quasi-compliance - excluding external involvement to circumvent accountability under the guise of national ownership.
However, following nationwide consultations on the green paper, the Transitional Justice Working Group of Experts revised their position and advocated for international experts' "meaningful" participation. Some said this included roles such as co-prosecutors and co-judges in a proposed special court and prosecution office. But the final policy restricted international experts to advisory and training functions, allegedly to assert national ownership over the process.
Post-policy government communications have increasingly embraced slogans such as "Ethiopian Transitional Justice for Ethiopians by Ethiopians". The implementation roadmap drafted in July recommends using the tagline, "Ethiopia's transitional justice will be realised through the leadership and ownership of its people and the nation",...
