Ethiopia rejects new research proposal at UN rights body session | United Nations News

Ambassador Zembe Kebede accuses him of “kidnapping” the UN Human Rights Council and using it as a “tool for political pressure”.

The United Nations says it continues to receive “credible reports” that all sides in the brutal 13-month conflict in Ethiopia are committing serious human rights violations in the midst of a deeper humanitarian crisis.

Speaking at a UN Human Rights Council meeting on Friday, Nada Al-Nashif, the rights minister, said that Ethiopia “is at a very high risk of increasing hatred, violence and discrimination”, which could lead to “widespread” violence. not only for millions of people in Ethiopia, but for the whole region. ”

The European Union, which has been calling for a one-day virtual session, has been pushing along with other members to launch an international investigation into the country’s abuses since fighting broke out between Tigray’s northern federal government forces and fighters in November 2020.

The EU hopes to present a draft resolution calling on the Council to set up an “International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia” to investigate a wide range of alleged violations and abuses by all parties to the conflict.

The three-expert team should seek to “establish the facts and circumstances of the alleged violations and abuses, gather and store evidence, and identify those responsible.”

The Ethiopian government has condemned the decision to hold a special session and called on countries to vote against the draft text.

“We call on all members of the Council … to oppose short-term interests and reject this resolution to renounce the politicization of human rights,” said Ambassador Zembe Kebede, who accused the Geneva organization of being “kidnapped” and “kidnapped”. a tool for political pressure ”.

“My government will not cooperate with any mechanisms that may be imposed on it because it is deliberately trying to destabilize it.”

The spiraling conflict has left tens of thousands of people displaced, displaced more than two million people and pushed hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation, according to UN estimates.

Ethnic tigers across the country have reportedly been subjected to arbitrary arrests, and Tigray civilians have described gang rape, human-infested famine and mass deportations.

Al-Nashif says between 5,000 and 7,000 people, most of them tigers, remain detained as a result of a new state of emergency. “Many are being held incommunicado or in unknown places. This is equivalent to the obligatory disappearance, which is a very serious matter. “

Tigris forces have also reported more abuses, including killings and rapes, in recent months after being taken to the Amhara and Afar regions around Ethiopia.

A joint Research conducted by the UN Office of Human Rights and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission warned last month that all sides had committed possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Tigray conflict.

The government’s Ethiopian Commission on Human Rights acknowledged in a statement this week that there was “added value” in pushing for a joint investigation, but said that the creation of a new body was “repetitive, contrary to ongoing implementation processes, and even more so for victims and survivors.” it delays the solution ”.