Ethiopia on Thursday failed to block the United Nations from funding an international committee set up to investigate human rights violations by all parties in the nation’s recent war.
The International Commission of Human Rights Experts (ICHRE) on Ethiopia was created in December by the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council, despite objections from the government in Addis Ababa.
Commission Led by Fatou Bensouda
The commission, led by former International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, has a renewable one-year mandate to investigate abuses committed since the war broke out in November 2020 between Ethiopian forces and Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) rebels.
UN Budget Committee Vote
At a meeting of the UN General Assembly’s budget committee, Ethiopia attempted to pass a resolution blocking funding for the commission. However, 66 member states voted against Ethiopia, 27 supported it, 39 abstained, while the rest of the 193-member body did not participate.
“Whether it’s in Ethiopia or anywhere else in the world, human rights violations need to be investigated, which is a critical part of the accountability pillar,” said UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
Human Rights Groups Welcome Vote
Human Rights Watch hailed the outcome, stating that UN members had sent a strong message that Ethiopia’s “attempt to escape accountability for war crimes and other abuses by defunding the UN’s human rights investigation is unacceptable.”
The NGO called for the UN to “quickly get the investigation up and running.”
Conflict and Humanitarian Truce
On March 24, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government announced an “indefinite humanitarian truce” to allow emergency aid into the Tigray region, where hundreds of thousands face starvation.
The TPLF rebels agreed to a “cessation of hostilities,” marking a new turning point in the 17-month war that has left thousands dead and displaced over 400,000 people.
However, both sides continue to accuse each other of blocking desperately needed aid deliveries to Tigray.
