HRC33: Address human rights crises in Ethiopia and South Suda
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Monday September 19, 2016 - 21:14:45 in English News by
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Human Rights Council: 33rd Session
Item 4: General Debate
Human rights situations that require the Council's attention
Oral Intervention
East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project
Delivered by Ms. Clementine de Montjoye
Thank you Mr. President.
The
East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project is gravely
concerned with the escalating human rights crisis in Ethiopia. The
situation has become increasingly unstable since security forces
repeatedly fired upon protests in the Amhara and Oromia regions in
August 2016, reportedly killing over 100 people. Since November 2015, Ethiopian security forces have routinely usedexcessive and unnecessary lethal forceto
disperse and suppress the largely peaceful protests in the Oromia
region. According to international and national human rights groups, at
least 600 demonstrators have been killed and hundreds have suffered
bullet wounds and beatings by police and military since the protests
began in November last year.
Mr.
President, we echo the High Commissioner for Human Rights' call for an
independent and impartial investigation into all reported killings and
other violations of human rights in the context of the protests. As
Member and Vice President of this Council, we urge the Government of
Ethiopia to uphold its obligations, and immediately cease the use of
excessive and lethal force by security forces against protesters, accept
an international investigation into the killings, give Special
Procedures access to the country, and make public its own national human
rights commission’s investigation on the Oromia protests.
Mr.
President, we also wish to bring to your attention the alarming levels
of threat civil society in South Sudan is facing today, which has
significantly worsened since the July 2016 outbreak in fighting. We are
gravely concerned about the UN Mission to South Sudan’s reports of
serious threats made against civil society members who met with the UN
Security Council delegation during their most recent visit to Juba this
month. Human rights defenders and journalists have had to flee Juba by
the dozen, particularly after attempting to document and report on the
dramatic escalation in violence in July. At least seven NGOs working on
human rights advocacy have recently reported being notified verbally or
in writing that the renewal of their registration has been denied under
the new NGO Act.
I thank you.
For more information, please contact
For more information, please contact
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HRC33: Address human rights crises in Ethiopia and South Suda
Human Rights Council: 33rd Session Item 4: General Debate Human rights situations that require the Council's attention