Governments Should Press Ethiopia to Allow an International Investigation
As anti-government
protests spread across Ethiopia’s Amhara and Oromia regions last weekend, state
security forces once again used lethal force to break them up – killing as many as 100 unarmed protesters.
More than 500 demonstrators are now estimated
to have been killed by security forces in largely peaceful protests since
November 2015. Demonstrators are protesting againstalleged abuses and discrimination by the government.
The authorities have detained thousands during
the demonstrations, and charged opposition political leaders with terrorism.
The government’s heavy-handed response is likely to fuel growing anger and
frustration.
On Wednesday, the United Nations’ top human
rights official stressed the need for aninternational
investigation into the killings. Ethiopia’s government immediately
rejected this, stating to Al
Jazeera that it would
be responsible for the safety of its own people.
Some governments, including the United Kingdom,
have decided to wait
for the outcome of an investigation by Ethiopia’s national Human Rights
Commission into the government’s response to protests in the Oromia and Amhara
regions before deciding how to act. In its oral report to parliament in June,
however, the commission concluded that the level of force used by security
forces in Oromia was proportionate to the risk they faced from protesters.
Days earlier, Human Rights Watch had reported
that excessive use of force resulted in the killing of an estimated 400 people
during the protests in Oromia –
and that the response was anything but proportionate.
The Human Rights Commission has a history of
close ties to the government.
That combined with the well-established absence
of accountability for security forces underscores the need for an international
investigation.
One now-former federal police officer involved
in quelling the protests laughed when I asked him in May if he knew of any
officers held to account. “We can do whatever we want to stop the protests,” he
said. “It is only our families and communities who shame us and make us feel
guilty for how we act against our people.”
Ethiopia has been hostile to outside scrutiny
of its rights record. Despite its June election to the UN Security Council and its membership of the Human Rights
Council, it has refused entry to all UN special rapporteurs since 2007 –
including the UN special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful
assembly and of association.
The United Nations and allied governments should press Ethiopia
to stop using excessive force against protesters, and to hold those responsible
to account, regardless of rank. They should press the Ethiopian government to
allow international observers to investigate abuses before Ethiopia slides into
an even more dangerous and irreversible political and human rights crisis.
Source: Human Right Watch
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