The United Nations Human Rights Chief Michelle Bachelet has called for accountability for violations and abuses committed by all parties to the Tigray conflict in Ethiopia. Her views come after the findings of a joint investigation by the UN and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission confirmed that all sides committed violations that may amount to war crimes.
The report’s release comes as the United States Tuesday announced three African countries including Ethiopia would soon be terminated from the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) due to actions taken by their governments in violation of the AGOA statute- and a day after the Ethiopian Government declared a state of emergency throughout the country.
The highly anticipated report examining the devastating impact of the conflict on civilians details a series of violations and abuses including unlawful killings, extrajudicial executions, sexual and gender-based violence, and the forced displacement of civilians among others.
“We have reasonable grounds to believe that during this period, all parties to the Tigray conflict have committed violations of international human rights, humanitarian and refugee law. Some of these may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Civilians in Tigray have been subjected to brutal violence and suffering. The Joint Investigation Team uncovered numerous violations and abuses, including unlawful killings and extra-judicial executions, torture, sexual and gender-based violence, violations against refugees, and forced displacement of civilians,” says UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.
The report covers the period from early November 2020, when the armed conflict began between the Ethiopian National Defence Force allied with the Eritrean Defence Force, the Amhara Special Forces, the Amhara Fano and other militias on one side, and the Tigrayan Special Forces, Tigrayan militia and other allied groups on the other – until the end of June this year when the Ethiopian Government declared a unilateral ceasefire.
It found that Ethiopian and Eritrean forces committed the majority of violations documented during the reporting period but officials have since noted an increasing number of allegations of human rights abuses by Tigrayan forces as well as Bachelet explains.
“The family of four killed in Ayder, Mekelle as their house was shelled, reportedly by the Ethiopian National Defence Force, without any apparent military justification. The 26-year-old woman in Adiet was gang-raped by Eritrean Defence Force soldiers in front of her three-year-old daughter. The man in Mai Kadra was attacked with machetes by the Samri Tigrayan youth group, shot in the back, and thrown into a fire. I want to amplify here today what victims and survivors of violations conveyed to our joint investigation team: they want their means of livelihood restored. They want reparations for their destroyed homes and all they have lost. They want to know the truth about what happened to their loved ones, for all sides to acknowledge their role in the suffering they have inflicted on them, and for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.”
The Office of the US Trade Representative this week warned that Ethiopia, along with Mali and Guinea would be terminated from AGOA as of 1 January absent urgent action to meet statutory eligibility criteria which includes the rule of law and political pluralism.
“We could proceed down one path that would inevitably lead to sanctions and other measures, or we go down another path on which we could revitalize the positive, promising bilateral relationship that was expanding to new heights when Prime Minister Abiy took office. The United States wants the latter. We sincerely want to chart a more productive path out of the current crisis. We do not want Ethiopia to lose its AGOA trade benefits or its international assistance. We are prepared to exercise leadership in the international community to energize the support needed for Ethiopia’s recovery from war and to realize the prime minister’s ambitious economic and job creation agenda that remains our desired destination,” says US Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman.
Earlier Wednesday and in a sign that the conflict was far from over, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed warned they would bury the enemy with their blood and bones and make the glory of Ethiopia rise again.
