In response to multiple reports of appalling massacres and widespread mass rape by Ethiopian and Eritrean military in the Tigray region, there have been calls for an urgent, full and independent investigation. The UN human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, has reportedly agreed to a request by the Ethiopian government’s Human Rights Commission for a joint investigation into human rights abuses in Tigray since hostilities started in November 2020.
The Ethiopian government claimed that the fighting between the Federal army and the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front ended as soon as Federal troops occupied the capital, Mekelle, but this has proved false. The Region is still racked by widespread violence and looting, and no force appears to be able to maintain peace and safeguard civilians’ security. It is reported by Medecines Sans Frontieres that 70% of the 106 medical facilities it visited had been looted and only 13% were functioning fully. Up to 60,000 civilians have fled into neighbouring Sudan, and thousands have been internally displaced.
It is now becoming clear that, horrific massacres have taken place in Tigray. Hundreds of civilians have reportedly been massacred, and appalling reports have emerged of mass rapes and murders of hundreds of women in Tigray by Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers, and allied Amhara militia. In addition, the Eritrean military forcibly returned thousands of Eritrean refugees from the Shimelba and Hitsats Refugee Camps and then appears to have destroyed the camps.
It is apparent that the Federal Government of Ethiopia has been unable (or maybe unwilling) to stop these horrific war crimes, committed by its Federal troops, its Eritrean allies and the Amhara special forces and militias. In the first months of 2021, there has been no evidence of the Ethiopian government attempting to stop these crimes from happening or making any efforts to investigate them. The actions and funding of the EHRC are controlled by the government of Ethiopia, and initially there were no reports of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) undertaking any urgent action to investigate human rights abuses in Tigray.
However, once calls for an investigation of the extensive human rights abuses and possible war crimes underway in Tigray became more widely heard, the Ethiopian government’s Human Rights Commission suddenly called for a joint investigation with the UN. It appears that Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, has agreed to this joint investigation. According to a spokesperson “the U.N. Human Rights Office and the EHRC are developing an investigation plan, which includes resources needed… in order to launch the missions as soon as possible.”.
Human Rights Concern-Eritrea (HRCE) is deeply concerned about this development, and would like to emphasise that:
- We have been revealing and denouncing the human rights abuses underway in Tigray since the start of the conflict in November 2020
- We have been calling for a full independent investigation into crimes committed in Tigray since January 2021
- We strongly emphasise that, for any investigation to be independent and fair, it must not be conducted by or with the state-controlled Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, which does not have the necessary independence from one of the parties to the conflict which may very well be complicit in the crimes being investigated.
- To have a real chance of uncovering the full truth, the investigating officials must not come from Ethiopia or Eritrea, and they must be given full freedom to go wherever they see fit and to interview anyone they wish, without Ethiopian government officials being present. The inquiry’s conclusions should be arrived at without interference or veto from the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission.
- All Eritrean military forces must be made to leave Tigray before the investigation begins.
- HRCE believes that the Ethiopian Prime Minister, who agreed to the invasion of Tigray and military operations there by a foreign (Eritrean) army against his own people, should have no influence or control over this investigation.
- It is vital that peace is rapidly established across the entire Tigray province. HRCE is calling for an international peace-keeping force to be formed, under the auspices of the UN or African Union, to ensure the peace and safety of all Tigrayans.
Human Rights Concern – Eritrea (HRCE)
