Ethiopia: Human Rights

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office written question – answered at on 25 July 2022.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Baroness Helic Baroness Helic Conservative

To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they have provided to (1) the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, and (2) the UN Human Rights Council's International Commission of Experts, to investigate conflict-related sexual violence in Ethiopia, following the publication of the joint report by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner Joint Investigation into Alleged Violations of International Human Rights, Humanitarian and Refugee Law Committed by all Parties to the Conflict in the Tigray Region of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, published on 3 November 2021.

Photo of Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK is a strong supporter of the work of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE). We co-sponsored the resolution mandating its creation at the Special Session of the Human Rights Council in December 2021. We will be strongly supporting the renewal of the Commission's mandate at the forthcoming 52nd Session of the Human Rights Council. We are urging all parties to facilitate its investigations. The UK supported the inclusion of Conflict Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) in the ICHREE mandate. We have raised CRSV with the Government of Ethiopia and other parties to the conflict and will continue to do so.

The UK's new Human Rights and Peacebuilding programme is providing support to the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to enhance its investigative capacity and improve the availability and accessibility of services for survivors of gender-based violence.

The UK will continue to support the work of the EHRC, the ICHREE, and of the wider UN in its efforts to ensure that those responsible for the atrocities committed during the conflict in northern Ethiopia, including instances of conflict-related sexual violence, are held to account .

Does this answer the above question?

Yes0 people think so

No0 people think not

Would you like to ask a question like this yourself? Use our Freedom of Information site.