UN Security Council expresses concern about rights violations in Ethiopia's Tigray

The United Nations Security Council has for the first time expressed “deep concern” about allegations of human rights violations in Ethiopia’s northern region of Tigray.

In its first public statement on the conflict in the Ethiopian region, the 15-member Council said on Thursday that it was concerned “about allegations of human rights violations and abuses, including reports of sexual violence against women and girls in the Tigray region.”

The statement, drafted by Ireland, “called for investigations to find those responsible and bring them to justice.”

The Council has been briefed on the Tigray conflict five times privately since fighting erupted between Ethiopian government forces and the local Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in November last year.

The conflict started after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops into the region as part of a retaliatory response to alleged attacks on the military. The dissident ruling party of TPLF was overthrown.

The Council finally released the statement a week after UN aid chief Mark Lowcock warned of a humanitarian crisis in the conflict-hit region.

Ethiopia’s mission to the UN, however, defended the “law enforcement operation in Ethiopia,” which he described as “an internal affair regulated by the laws of the country, including human rights laws.”

MG