Ethiopia: Extend the Expert Commission’s mandate

Ahead of the UN Human Rights Council’s 51st regular session (HRC51, 12 September-7 October 2022), four NGOs urge states to support a resolution that reflects the human rights situation in Ethiopia and extends the mandate of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on the country (ICHREE) for a year. 

“The Com­mission’s work is vital to ensure scrutiny of the situation in Ethiopia and advance justice, truth, and reparations for survivors, victims, and their families,” the signatories write. 

The human rights situation in the country, with ongoing violations, requires the Council’s ongoing atten­tion. Conflict and unrest in several parts of Ethiopia have caused mass displacement, destruction of social and economic infrastructure, and a humanitarian crisis that increases food insecurity and the risk of famine. 

A mandate extension is warranted on both technical and substantive grounds. First, the ICHREE will not have completed its work by the Council’s 51st session […]. Second, the Commission needs time to complete its mandate given the magnitude, gravity, and scope of violations and abuses, some of which might constitute crimes under international law, committed by all parties to the conflict in Ethiopia and the significant transitional justice, reconciliation, and healing needs, which the ICHREE is mandated to address,” DefendDefenders and partners conclude. 

 

Read the full letter in PDF format  /  Version française

 

Signatories:
1. Amnesty International
2. DefendDefenders (East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project)
3. Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
4. Human Rights Watch

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Human Rights Defender of the month:SHIMA BHARE

Shima Bhare Abdalla has never known the luxury and comfort of a stable and safe existence inside her country’s borders. When she was 11, her village was attacked and razed to the ground, sending her family and entire neighborhood scattering into an internally displaced People’s Camp, at the start of the Darfur civil war.

That was in 2002. Shima and her family relocated into Kalma refugee camp in Southern Darfur, where, alongside over 100,000 other displaced persons, they had to forge out a living, under the watch and benevolence of the United Nations – African Union Hybrid Operation in Darfur, known as UNAMID. It is here that Shima’s human rights consciousness came to life. She enthusiastically embraced whatever little education she could access under the auspices of the humanitarian agencies operating in the camp, to be able to tell the story of her people’s plight.

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