Panafrican News Agency

Ethiopian crisis: Gov't slams 'politically motivated' agenda of UN Human Rights Council

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - The Ethiopian government says it is "extremely disappointed" at the use of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) by some to advance their politically motivated agenda, stressing that it will not cooperate with the established mechanism imposed upon it.

The Human Rights Council agreed in a vote on Friday that serious concerns over alleged severe human rights violations and abuses in Ethiopia should be investigated by an international rights probe.

According to the resolution, the new probe should comprise three human rights experts, all appointed by the President of the Human Rights Council.

Among the resolution’s key elements were calls to all parties to the conflict to halt “direct attacks against civilians…including on the basis of their ethnicity or gender”.

Mandated for one year initially but subject to renewals, the international inquiry’s work will complement that already undertaken by the Joint Investigative Team involving the UN human rights office and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission into alleged violations of human rights, humanitarian and refugee law committed by all parties to the conflict in Tigray.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press release quoted by the state-owned Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) said regardless of repeated requests by the Government for the Council not to hold a special session but rather engage in a constructive manner and work in a collaborative spirit with the country concerned, "some quarters have succeeded in achieving their objective through attaining majority votes in the council".

It said this was done against the recommendations by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) which were submitted to the President of the Human Rights Council on 14 December 2021 and to all members of the council.

These recommendations requested UN Human Rights Council to unequivocally support the implementation of the Joint Investigation Team’s recommendations, the work of the Inter-Ministerial Task Force and for the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (OHCHR) and the EHRC to continue with further joint investigations.

"This action by some in the Council is an attempt to find an alternative way of meddling in the internal affairs of a sovereign state and serves no purpose except exacerbating the situation on the ground," it pointed out.

Ethiopia had rejected the special session and its "politically motivated outcome" which, it said, undermined trust in the work of the Council, and most importantly, the territorial integrity, national sovereignty and political independence of the country.

"Therefore, Ethiopia would like to reiterate that it will not cooperate with the established mechanism imposed upon it against its consent," the statement said.

The meeting of the Human Rights Council follows the recent escalation of hostilities in north of the country which has threatened to destabilize the whole country and the wider Horn of Africa region.

Addressing the Council, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al-Nashif said it was likely that more than 400,000 people in Tigray were living in famine-like conditions, since only limited relief had been allowed into the region since UN humanitarians raised the alarm in June.

After urging the warring parties to respect repeated international calls for a ceasefire, she said that at least two million people across Tigray, Amhara and Afar regions had been displaced because of conflict and “many of them are not receiving the assistance they need to stay alive”.

The crisis in northern Ethiopia has resulted in millions of people in need of emergency assistance and protection.

-0- PANA MA/RA 18Dec2021