On 28 June the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, along with Amnesty International, DefendDefenders and Human Rights Watch, co-hosted an event on ongoing atrocities in Tigray and how the Human Rights Council should respond to the human rights emergency during its 47th session.

Since 4 November 2020 the armed conflict in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region has resulted in widespread massacres; indiscriminate shelling; targeted destruction of civilian infrastructure and refugee camps; attacks on schools, healthcare facilities and cultural and religious heritage sites; unlawful restrictions on humanitarian aid; forced displacement; arbitrary detention; and rape and sexual violence. Preliminary analysis by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights indicates that the Ethiopian National Defense Forces, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, Eritrean armed forces, and Amhara regional forces and affiliated militias have all committed serious violations of international law, possibly amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Speakers:

– Ms. Ms. Tsedale Lemma, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Addis Standard

– Ms. Laetitia Bader, Horn of Africa Director, Human Rights Watch

– Mr. Fisseha Tekle, Horn of Africa Researcher, Amnesty International

– Ms. Savita Pawnday, Deputy Executive Director, Global Centre for R2P (Moderator)