Addis Ababa, December 17, 2021 (FBC) – Ethiopian Ambassador to Switzerland, Austria, Hungary & Romania, Permanent Representative to the UN Office at Geneva & other International Orgs in Switzerland, Zenebe Kebede, addressing the 33rd Special Session of UN Human Rights Council on Friday said that Ethiopia will not cooperate with any mechanisms that may be imposed on it.
“His Majesty Emperor Haileselassie I, his appeal to the League of Nations could not convince multilateralism to end the Italian aggression. History repeats itself today. Eighty five years later, here in Geneva, Ethiopia is once again defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity; this time from internal aggression,” Ambassador Zenebe Kebede said.
“Our commitment to multilateralism is not helping us to defend our country. Multilateralism after all these years is once again being hijacked by a neocolonialist mentality,”
Ethiopia is being targeted and singled out at the Human Rights Council for defending a democratically elected government, the peace and the future of its people, he underlined.
As one of the founders of the League of Nations, the UN, Ethiopia is fan believer in multilateralism. The mandate and work of human rights council is not to advance ulterior political objectives.
In recent years, we have seen the same powers oversee the complete destabilization of several countries. This must stop. In the past, we stood alone to defend colonial aggression. Today Ethiopia confronts this blatant political pressure with other many countries shoulder to shoulder to defend multilateralism.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission have jointly investigated the alleged human rights violations in the context of the conflict in the northern parts of Ethiopia.
Ethiopia has a government with unreserved commitment to human rights; we declared our commitment to implement the recommendations of the recently issued joint investigation report and setup national mechanism, an inter-ministerial task force. The task force has been ready to cooperate with the Office of the High Commissioner, and some areas require additional expertise.
The government of Ethiopia has once again invited the Office of the High Commissioner to jointly investigate the serious violations in the Afar and Amhara regions together Ethiopian Human Rights Commission starting from the period, the first joint investigation ended.
The initiative of this special session on the other hand failed to condemn the pillage and destruction of property, rape and sexual abuse and use of child soldier by the forces the terrorist TPLF Group.
“This terrorist group commandeered more than a thousand trucks delivering humanitarian supplies to the people in need in Tigray region, and now it is using them for political and military purposes.”
“The terrorist TPLF destroyed food warehouses, schools, health facilities, industrial parks. The initiators of this special session would not tell us they are determined to impose the will on the government. The very underhand manner this special session was initiated shows ulterior political objective,” he noted.
“Is this initiative helpful? No. Why? would one want to establish a concurrent body with the same mandate of the joint investigation team? Why to investigate and something already investigated in the reported matter which is now currently under implementation?” he asked.
The council is being used as an instrument of political pressure. It is a counterproductive effort to embolden the terrorist rebels and exacerbate the situation on the ground.
Therefore, the right thing to do is to support our genuine national efforts consistent with principle of subsidiarity. As far as Ethiopia is concerned, rest assured that my government will continue to ensure accountability.
“In light of the foregoing, the government of Ethiopia expresses its complete rejection of resolution A/HRC/S-33/L.1. We call upon council members to form a principled stand against short sighted interest and refuse politicization of human rights by rejecting this resolution,” Ambassador Zenebe underlined.
“I would like to reiterate that my government will not cooperate with any mechanisms that may be imposed on it,” he added.