Human Rights Council: 33rd Session
Item 4: General Debate
Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention
Oral Intervention
East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project
Delivered by Ms. Clementine de Montjoye
Thank you Mr. President.
The East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project is gravely concerned with the escalating human rights crisis in Ethiopia. The situation has become increasingly unstable since security forces repeatedly fired upon protests in the Amhara and Oromia regions in August 2016, reportedly killing over 100 people.
Since November 2015, Ethiopian security forces have routinely used excessive and unnecessary lethal force to disperse and suppress the largely peaceful protests in the Oromia region. According to international and national human rights groups, at least 600 demonstrators have been killed and hundreds have suffered bullet wounds and beatings by police and military since the protests began in November last year.
Mr. President, we echo the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ call for an independent and impartial investigation into all reported killings and other violations of human rights in the context of the protests. As Member and Vice President of this Council, we urge the Government of Ethiopia to uphold its obligations, and immediately cease the use of excessive and lethal force by security forces against protesters, accept an international investigation into the killings, give Special Procedures access to the country, and make public its own national human rights commission’s investigation on the Oromia protests.
Mr. President, we also wish to bring to your attention the alarming levels of threat civil society in South Sudan is facing today, which has significantly worsened since the July 2016 outbreak in fighting.
We are gravely concerned about the UN Mission to South Sudan’s reports of serious threats made against civil society members who met with the UN Security Council delegation during their most recent visit to Juba this month. Human rights defenders and journalists have had to flee Juba by the dozen, particularly after attempting to document and report on the dramatic escalation in violence in July. At least seven NGOs working on human rights advocacy have recently reported being notified verbally or in writing that the renewal of their registration has been denied under the new NGO Act.
I thank you.