The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has recently passed a resolution on Ethiopia to undermine the efforts of the Ethiopian government to address the alleged human rights violations and the Joint Investigation Report of the United Nations Human Right Office ( UNHRO) and Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) as well.
During yesterday’s media briefing, PMO Press Secretary Billene Seyoum stated that the Council should accept a joint investigation report of the UNHRO and EHRC and appreciate the efforts of the government to address issues based on the recommendations.
“The Council should stop its double standard position on human rights violations in Tigray vis-a-vis states where we have seen vast amounts of human rights abuses and atrocities committed by the TPLF,” she added.
Referring Council’s recent resolution regarding Ethiopia, Billene said that the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva has endorsed a resolution titled “human rights situation in Ethiopia” which was drafted and tabled mainly by the member states of the European Union.
She also explained that the resolution provided to establish an international commission of human rights experts with the mandate of conducting investigation into allegations of human rights violations. Ethiopia has [categorically] rejected the resolution from its inception. Friendly African countries as well as other friendly countries have also joined Ethiopia by giving no vote to the resolution.
“Particularly here we want to emphasize that this rejection on the part of the government of Ethiopia should not be misconstrued as a rejection of probes or efforts to address human rights violations within the country,” she indicated.
Billene said the Ethiopian government acknowledges that the resolution is a politically motivated instrument that is set to discredit efforts undertaken prior to it and recommendations that had been put forth already by the joint of UNHRO and EHRC .
She further noted that the aforesaid joint investigation report was accepted by the Ethiopian government with reservations of course because of the scope and the limitations with regards to its coverage.
Nevertheless, she stated, the Prime Minister as well as the federal government took it upon them to rally behind this report and endorsed some of the findings and made sure that a remedial process was launched; adding that this remedial process entailed an inter-ministerial task force which has been formed and is currently looking into the implementation aspect of it.
While these processes are already in play it does not make any sense to push for a new investigations covering the same period as the recent investigation simply because some did not get the results that they had anticipated, as to her.
She said that the previous report rejected accusations and allegations of genocide as well as the use of famine or starvation as a weapon of war. These were found inconclusive in the previous report. Attempting to undertake a redundant activity is tantamount to abusing international norms and resources, she added.