The International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE) must be decommissioned in the interest of consolidating a lasting Peace in Ethiopia
Dear President of the Human Rights Council and Member States of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC),
We, the undersigned organizations, with members including Ethiopians, Europeans, North Americans, Africans and beyond, write to you during the 52nd regular session of the Council regarding the decommissioning of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE).
As independent and concerned citizens, we have previously sent messages to UNHRC member states on June 8th and September 26th, 2022, highlighting our concerns about human rights violations on our compatriots and close relatives. As such, our voices should be given due consideration on how Human Rights violations in Ethiopia should be assessed and handled. In our letter dated June 8th, 2022, we emphasized the need to support and empower the country’s sovereign institutions which have the built-in mandate to hold those who have committed human rights violations accountable. We also underlined the importance of preserving Ethiopia’s judicial sovereignty and strengthening its national institutions to promote and protect human rights.
We firmly believe establishing a new mechanism, based on erroneous premises used to form the Commission, hinders concrete measures taken by Ethiopian national institutions which are currently working to bring perpetrators of human rights violations to justice. We have also called on UNHRC member states to dissolve the Commission and use such public funds to strengthen Ethiopia’s judicial institutional capacity to continue its work on investigating the atrocities committed in the affected areas, including Afar and Amhara regions.
We believe that the significant progress made on the implementation of the Peace Agreement signed on November 2nd, 2022, by the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in South Africa, ending the two-year-long conflict in Northern Ethiopia, should be commended by the Human Rights Council Members. We urge the Council not to engage in actions that will negatively affect and undermine the ongoing AU-led peace process.
We also call on member states of the UNHRC to consider the historic National Dialogue, set to begin in March 2023, as a way to help bring national consensus. We recommend the aforementioned institutions and states to abstain from untimely actions and inflammatory reports which will prompt detrimental consequences to the ongoing processes. We further urge member states to support the Ethiopian Government’s bold and decisive action to ensure accountability for violations of human rights, including the on-going national Transitional Justice in Ethiopia.
As Ethiopian Advocacy Groups, deeply concerned about human rights violations in the country, we reiterate our call to all member states of the UNHRC and relevant stakeholders to dissolve the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE). We urge all parties to collaborate with the independent institutions in strengthening Ethiopia’s judicial institutional capacity, supporting local policy options for Transitional Justice, while respecting Ethiopia’s judicial sovereignty, and consolidating lasting peace for the country and the region.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Initiated by
- Network of Ethiopians in Geneva for Action Task Force (NEGAT)
- Defend Ethiopia Task Force in Europe (DETF-EU) organized in Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom
Signatories
- ABREN (ABREN)
- Colors of Unity (CoU)
- Defend Ethiopia Task Force in Europe (DETF-EU) organized in Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom
- DMV-PDA Council
- Independent Voice (@ind_voicemw)
- Ethio-Czech Community z.s. (ECC)
- Ethiopian Academy for Culture and Development
- Ethiopian Community in Antwerpen Belgium
- Ethiopian Community in Spain (ECS)
- Ethiopian Community Association in Turkiye
- Ethiopian Diaspora Associations in Belgium (EDAB)
- Ethio-France Association for Development of Ethiopia (EFADE)
- Ethiopian Community Frankfurt Germany
- Ethiopian Public Diplomacy Network (EPDN)
- Ethiopia Shall Continue (ESC)
- Generational Bridge የትውልድ ድልድይ
- GETFACTet (GETFACTet)
- Network of Ethiopians in Geneva for Action Task Force (NEGAT)
- Unity For Ethiopia (@UnityforEthio)
