Following last month's release of a joint report by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and the United Nations citing widespread human rights abuses in the country, a U.N. human rights body voted Friday to establish a group of experts to further monitor human rights abuses in Ethiopia as a yearlong war between government forces and forces in the country's Tigray region continues. The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said that there was "value added" in continuing to investigate alleged human rights violations, but that the formation of a new group was "repetitive, counterproductive to ongoing implementation processes, and further delays redress for victims and survivors." Our office continues to receive credible reports of severe human rights violations and abuses by all parties," Nada al-Nashif, the U.N. deputy high commissioner for human rights, told representatives at Friday's session. It called on Amhara leaders to "renounce violence against civilians" and on Eritrea "to remove its forces from Ethiopia." Last month's report said human rights violations including torture, extrajudicial executions, and sexual and gender-based violence, including gang rapes, were being committed by all sides in the conflict.

Source: Ethiopian News December 18, 2021 12:35 UTC