Ethiopian Organizations in Europe express dismay at OHCHR press statement

Addis Ababa, January 11, 2021 (FBC) -Ethiopian Organizations in Europe have expressed their dismay at a press release by Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the situation in the northern region of Ethiopia.

They expressed their dismay, sadness and disappointment following a press statement by Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, on the 22nd of December regarding the situation in Northern Ethiopia.

“It is sad and unfortunate to see assertions by the High Commissioner, containing unverified allegations, personal testimonies without verifiable evidence as well as elements with a biased posture that clearly undermines the credibility of the United Nations High Commission of Human Rights,” they said in a letter wrote to the Office.

The press statement deliberately omitted to mention the ethno-nationalist and oppressive regime of the TPLF that ruled Ethiopia from 1991 to 2018 perpetrating gross human rights violations, they stated.

It also ignored the atrocious massacre on the 9th of November 2020 at Mai Kadra town amounting to crimes against humanity and war crimes that have been carried out by the TPLF local administration police and militia forces, according to reports from independent groups such the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, Ethiopian Human Rights Council and Amnesty International.

In addition, it completely disregarded the attempted internationalization of the conflict by the TPLF by firing several rockets to Eritrea’s territory as well as the attempted strike on densely populated and historic cities Gondar and Bahir-Dar.

The Organizations called upon the Office, its Commissioner and the Human Rights Council Member States to take corrective measures to address the bias and propagation of unverified allegations in the press statement.