What happened to the AU investigation?

and some labour right wins

Sep 04, 2023

Hello,

Welcome to Sifter - a weekly newsletter on news in Ethiopia curated by me, Maya Misikir, a freelance reporter based in Addis Abeba.

This is going to be the last edition for the year, as the Ethiopian New Year is right around the corner. I hope you have some nice plans to welcome in the new year, but if not, I have some options for you at the end of today’s updates - I’m determined to end things on a festive note.

For new subscribers or those of you interested in taking a look at the dizzying news cycle that was 2015 E.C.1, go here to see all previous editions of Sifter.

Now, to the news.

Human Rights: an investigation that ended early

When the federal government and Tigrayan forces signed a peace agreement in November last year, it was brokered by the African Union (AU). The AU’s human rights body, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, was the first to set up a commission that was tasked with monitoring rights violations in the war in Tigray.

This team, known as the Commission of Inquiry was set up in June 2021. The role of this Commission was to investigate and gather information on allegations of violations.

Two years later, in June of this year, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights decided to dissolve this Commission of Inquiry without releasing so much as a single report on its work. This despite having had sessions where it listened to witness testimonies and received reports on the human rights situation in Tigray.

Last week a group of organizations wrote a joint statement asking for this decision to dissolve the Commission be reconsidered. Human Rights Watch and 32 other civil society, and human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and the Center for Advancement of Rights and Democracy, were signatories to this statement which said that the reasons given to dissolve the Commission were not convincing.

Here’s an excerpt from the statement opposing this decision:

“We believe that the African Commission’s decision mistakenly buys into the rhetoric provided by the Ethiopian government- a party to the conflict and accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity - to eschew justice and accountability. We are apprehensive that in taking this unfortunate decision, the African Commission may have succumbed to undue political pressure from the Ethiopian government.”

One of the reasons provided for dissolving the Commission of Inquiry is that Ethiopia is in the process of adopting a transitional justice policy.

This reminded me of the article from Harvard Human Rights Reflections that discussed in detail the work of another rights commission; the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission. In the article, the author examined whether this institution can really ‘prove to be the local champion of justice’.

Here’s a refresher:

“There are, in fact, clear indications that the government plans to instrumentalize transitional justice in a bid to achieve what a recent book described as quasi-complaince. That is, the acceptance and initiation of a transitional justice process to pacify domestic calls for justice and fend off international pressure while, at the same time, also avoiding reputational and legal liability that may come out of a properly implemented initiative for justice.”

The full statement on the dissolution of the Commission here and the article on Harvard Human Rights Reflections here.

Security: we don’t know her (V)

Last week in Amhara region, more fighting was reported in multiple towns including Finote Selam, Debre Markos, and Debre Tabor. The fighting has caused roadblocks which in turn has made getting medical supplies to health centers difficult.

Here’s an excerpt from a story on Addis Standard:

“Andualem Geremew, the Director of Debre Markos General Hospital, informed Addis Standard that since Friday, the hospital has admitted 29 injured individuals, of which 3 have tragically succumbed to their injuries. The Director also conveyed that the hospital is currently grappling with shortages in both medical supplies and blood reserves due to the obstruction of transportation routes.”

In relation to this, the UN Human Rights Office released a statement saying that since July, at least 183 people have been killed in Amhara Region. The report also adds that the state of emergency has allowed for widespread arrests without a court order.

Here’s an excerpt:

“We have received reports that more than 1,000 people have been arrested across Ethiopia under this law. Many of those detained were reported to be young people of Amhara ethnic origin suspected of being Fano supporters. Since early August, mass house-to-house searches have reportedly been taking place, and at least three Ethiopian journalists covering the situation in the Amhara region have been detained.”

The full story on Addis Standard here, and the UN report here.

Migration: someone did do something about it

The killing of hundreds (possibly thousands) of Ethiopian migrants on the Saudi-Yemeni border by Saudi patrol guards made headlines over the past two weeks. Investigative reporters have now revealed the involvement of European and U.S. players in the mix.

A story that came out in The Guardian last week says that the Saudi patrol guards, who according to Human Rights Watch may have taken actions tantamount to crimes against humanity, were trained by German police and the U.S. military.

The article talks about how the Saudi government trained its border patrol as part of what it says is counter-terrorism work. The question then remains: why was it difficult to differentiate between terrorists and trafficked migrants?

Here’s an excerpt from the story:

“The German and US training missions ran in tandem with a wider effort by Saudi Arabia to upgrade its border security with surveillance technologies, which have raised additional serious questions over why Saudi authorities were unable to distinguish between civilians and armed individuals at the Yemen border.”

There’s more. The training given by the U.S. military was supposed to include making sure that those trained would only ‘operate defensively’.

Two days following the first report, the German government said that it had effectively discontinued the agreement to train Saudi patrol guards by its police force in response to the story.

Here’s an excerpt of the response by U.S. officials:

“While the US State Department insisted it has not trained members of Saudi Arabia’s border force involved in land security, it was unable to answer whether other ministry of the interior forces who have received US training had been deployed to the border, citing a lack of information.”

The first investigative report here, and the response to the story here.

Labour rights: decrease in income tax

Looks like there was a win for labor rights over the past week. A story by The Reporter says that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has given the green light to make changes to income tax as well as the long-awaited minimum wage.

The president of the Confederation of Ethiopian Trade Unions – established 30 years ago and with over 300,000 members – sat down with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and other high-level officials last week Wednesday. Part of the requests made by the Confederation was a decrease in employment tax as the purchasing power of the Birr looks to be in nothing short of a free fall right now.

Here’s a jarring excerpt:

“The existing tax structure ranges from a minimum rate of 10 percent for salaries between 601 birr and 1,650 birr per month, to a maximum rate of 35 percent for salaries exceeding 10,900 birr per month.”

Does that come to a 10 percent tax for all monthly salaries roughly around and above 10 USD?

The full story on The Reporter here.

Events: some NY celebrations

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Note: I go through all the major news outlets, newspapers, online publications, and will at times, include reports, notes on parliamentary sessions, and go through fact-checking websites as well. I try to provide links to both English and Amharic sources.

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