03 – 07 – 2022
Tigray External Affair Office
The Government of Tigray today released a statement expressing its appreciation to the President of the Human Rights Council for appointing Fatou Bensouda of the Gambia, Kaari Betty Murungi of Kenya, and Steven Ratner of the United States of America to serve as the three members of the Commission.The Commission was created to undertake independent investigations into any and all atrocities committed in Tigray and elsewhere during the ongoing war on Tigray.The statement said the Abiy regime continues to unleash a campaign of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and other systematic measures to exterminate the people of Tigray, such as through starvation, airstrikes and drone attacks, and arbitrary mass arrest of Tigrayans across Ethiopia solely on account of their identity.
In the context of these shocking atrocities, the appointment of members of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia is a necessary first step in the international community’s attempt to stop the commission of further atrocities as well as hold the perpetrators of these heinous crimes accountable, the Government of Tigray underlined. Given the distinguished pedigree of the newly-appointed members of the Commission in the legal and human rights arena, the Government of Tigray expressed its confidence that they will discharge their responsibilities with the utmost integrity, in accordance with the Council’s established working methods and procedures.
The Government of Tigray said as the legitimate representative of the People of Tigray, who have borne the brunt of the Abiy regime’s ongoing genocidal campaign, it appreciates the necessity of meaningfully engaging all parties to the conflict. The Government of Tigray said it has established a high-level taskforce with full authority to manage all pertinent issues on this matter. The people and Government of Tigray are committed to cooperating with the Commission, as it fulfils its mandate, the statement stated.
The Government of Tigray said it joins the international community in strongly urging the Ethiopian Government to reverse its opposition to an independent investigation and accept, without reservations, the legitimacy and mandate of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia. “If the Abiy regime persists with its unjustifiable objection to the Commission and, by extension, the very of idea of independent investigations into atrocities committed throughout the conflict, the international community should interpret this intransigence as an admission of guilt on the part of the Abiy regime,” the statement urged. The Government of Tigray urged the intonational community not to allow the Abiy regime to levy baseless accusations against the Government of Tigray for rights violations, whitewash its own criminal record in Tigray and still strenuously object to independent investigations.
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