international rights organizations wrote a letter to members and observer states of the UN Human Rights Council to address the pervasive human rights crisis in Ethiopia.
The civil society organisations said in a letter that they want the UNHRC “to draw its attention to persistent and grave violations of human rights in Ethiopia and the pressing need to support the establishment of an independent, impartial and international investigation into atrocities committed by security forces to suppress peaceful protests and independent dissent.”
“As the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) prepares to convene for its 35th session from 6 – 23 June 2017, we urge your delegation to prioritise and address through joint statements the ongoing human rights crisis in Ethiopia,” the letter said.
In the wake of unprecedented, mass protests that erupted in November 2015 in Oromia, Amhara, and Southern Ethiopia, security forces used excessive and unnecessary force to legitimate and largely peaceful expressions of dissent, the letter said.
The letter by the civil society organizations called the 35th session of the UNHRC to urge the Ethiopian regime to urgently allow access to an international, thorough, independent, impartial and transparent investigation into all of the deaths resulting from alleged excessive use of force by the security forces, and other violations of human rights in the context of the protests.
It also called, among others, for the immediate and unconditional release of journalists, human rights defenders, political opposition leaders and members as well as protesters arbitrarily detained during and in the aftermath of the protests.
The eleven civil society organizations are the Association for Human Rights in Ethiopia, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, Civil Rights Defenders, DefendDefenders (East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project), Ethiopia Human Rights Project, Freedom House, Front Line Defenders, Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, Human Rights Watch, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), International Service for Human Rights, Reporters Without Borders and World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT).
The civil society organisations said in a letter that they want the UNHRC “to draw its attention to persistent and grave violations of human rights in Ethiopia and the pressing need to support the establishment of an independent, impartial and international investigation into atrocities committed by security forces to suppress peaceful protests and independent dissent.”
“As the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) prepares to convene for its 35th session from 6 – 23 June 2017, we urge your delegation to prioritise and address through joint statements the ongoing human rights crisis in Ethiopia,” the letter said.
In the wake of unprecedented, mass protests that erupted in November 2015 in Oromia, Amhara, and Southern Ethiopia, security forces used excessive and unnecessary force to legitimate and largely peaceful expressions of dissent, the letter said.
The letter by the civil society organizations called the 35th session of the UNHRC to urge the Ethiopian regime to urgently allow access to an international, thorough, independent, impartial and transparent investigation into all of the deaths resulting from alleged excessive use of force by the security forces, and other violations of human rights in the context of the protests.
It also called, among others, for the immediate and unconditional release of journalists, human rights defenders, political opposition leaders and members as well as protesters arbitrarily detained during and in the aftermath of the protests.
The eleven civil society organizations are the Association for Human Rights in Ethiopia, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, Civil Rights Defenders, DefendDefenders (East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project), Ethiopia Human Rights Project, Freedom House, Front Line Defenders, Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, Human Rights Watch, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), International Service for Human Rights, Reporters Without Borders and World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT).
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