The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Friday ordered an independent international investigation into allegations of rights violations and abuse carried out in Ethiopia during a conflict between the military and Tigrayan forces, reported Reuters.
The investigation order comes after a senior U.N. official said there had been violations on all sides and mass arrests under a government crackdown.
The resolution was brought forward to a vote by the European Union (EU). 21 members out of the 47-member UNHRC council voted in favor, while 15 opposed and 11 abstentions on Friday to order the establishment of an international commission of human rights experts to probe a wide range of alleged violations and abuses by all sides in Ethiopia.
The EU had called for a special meeting of the council in Geneva after rights groups said violations committed during more than a year of conflict might amount to war crimes.
Nada al-Nashif, the UN deputy high commissioner for human rights, told the session on Friday that the UNHCR office continues to receive credible reports of severe human rights violations and abuses by all parties.
“The humanitarian impact of the conflict is increasingly dramatic,” al-Nashif said.
The UNHRC official added that between 5,000 and 7,000 people swept up under Ethiopia’s new state of emergency remain imprisoned and that most of them are Tigrayans.
Ethiopia has slammed the move describing it as politically motivated. The UN rights council again warned that all sides in the civil war were committing severe violations. It said there was a risk to the entire region and called on all parties to pull back.
Nearly 10 million people in northern Ethiopia face acute food insecurity, and at least two million have been forced to flee their homes due to the conflict. Humanitarian workers have very little access and continue to face hostility in the troubled region.
