United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk is calling on warring parties in northern Ethiopia to lay down their arms, warning that human rights violations and abuses amid hostilities continue to endanger reconciliation efforts. The report finds the human rights situation in the northern Tigray region has improved significantly following a November 2022 Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, while violent conflict has led to a serious deterioration of human rights in the regions of Amhara and Oromia. The report cites a litany of human rights violations and abuses committed by government security forces and armed groups, including arbitrary arrests and detentions, followed by killings of civilians, torture, enforced disappearances, and attacks on civilian property. The report documents 594 incidents of human rights violations and abuses affecting 8,253 victims, “a 56 percent increase compared with 2022.” It adds that, “State actors were reportedly responsible for some 70 percent of the violations, while non-state actors accounted for some 22 percent.”Declining violations in TigrayIn Ethiopia’s most-northern region, Tigray, the report describes a general decrease in human rights violations and abuses. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, or OHCHR, recorded 44 civilian deaths in 2023 compared to 303 in 2022 in the context of the Tigray conflict.

Source: Ethiopian News June 14, 2024 19:39 UTC