Ethiopia calls on Amnesty to review human rights report again

Addis Ababa, July 18, 2020 (FBC) -Office of the Federal Attorney General has called on the Amnesty International to review again the report it issued last May regarding the human rights situations in Ethiopia.

In the report titled “Beyond Law Enforcement: Human Rights Violations by Ethiopian Security Forces in Amhara and Oromia,” the organization accused Ethiopian security forces of committing grave human rights violations.

Following the report, the office conducted its own investigation into the case after forming a team composed of members from offices of attorney general of both regional states, police, higher educational institutions and civil society organizations (CSOs).

Despite the Attorney General’s efforts to hold consultations with senior officials of Amnesty regarding the results of the investigation and the content of the report, no sufficient response has been received from the organization so far, the office said.

According to findings of the investigation team, Amnesty in its report considered the measures taken by the government to ensure rule of law as human rights violations.

Although the report mostly lacks impartiality and contains other fundamental shortcomings, including difficulty in weighing evidences and accepting the realities in the country, some of the allegations in the report were found to be partially credible.

However, unlike the previous quality and credible reports of Amnesty, the current report does not meet even the organization’s own human rights reporting guidelines and criteria, the Attorney General office said.

The report lacks impartiality and reaches on erroneous conclusions in the most complex conflict and security challenges after having few and unreliable or biased evidences, it said.

It also failed to disclose the crimes and attacks being committed by armed groups against the people and the government, especially in Guji zone, Oromia regional state.

The office said it believes these mistakes were not accidental but a deliberate action by some Ethiopian authors of the report who have a link with political parties that were in power earlier but now working to impede the reform.

For the sake of good cooperation and working relationship with the government of Ethiopia in the future, the office called upon the organization to conduct internal investigation into the preparation of the report.

The office said it will release next week detailed findings of the investigation on its website and social media sites.