The US removes Ethiopia from a list of countries that violate human rights amid criticism from NGOs

Amnesty and HRW assure that atrocities continue to occur in the north of the country despite the signing of the peace agreement in Pretoria

July 2 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The United States has removed Ethiopia from its list of countries “currently implicated in serious violations of human rights” in a decision taken to facilitate economic aid to the African country after a devastating war, and which has nevertheless sparked criticism from NGOs such as Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch (HRW), which has ensured that the atrocities in the country continue their course.

The withdrawal of Ethiopia from the list, included in a notification from the US Treasury Department, has been confirmed by sources close to the decision both to the magazine ‘Foreign Policy’ and to the Ethiopian public broadcaster, FANABC. According to the memorandum, the department headed by Janet Yellen recommends that US and international financial institutions “stop refusing loans or technical assistance” to the African country.

Amnesty International and HRW have unequivocally condemned this decision despite the peace that is advancing in the country after the November 2022 agreement in Pretoria (South Africa) that ended two years of conflict between the Ethiopian Army and its ally, Eritrea, against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF); one of the most violent conflicts in the recent history of the continent, which left between 100,000 and 600,000 dead, according to official sources or the African Union.

Both NGOs have denounced that all sides in the conflict have continued to perpetrate crimes against human rights despite the ceasefire in Pretoria; in particular in areas such as western Tigray, the scene of an ethnic cleansing that is still underway, HRW reported in June.

It should be remembered that the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, reiterated in March this year his government’s determination that all parties to the conflict in northern Ethiopia — both the TPLF and the Security Forces Ethiopian National Defense, the Eritrean Defense Forces and forces from neighboring Amhara State committed crimes against humanity, “including murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence and persecution”.

Now, the decision of the Treasury represents a setback for the survivors of the conflict. “The decision not only ignores the reality that gross human rights violations continue across the country, but sends a disastrous signal that the US’s determination to prosecute atrocities actually carries little consequence,” in the words of the HRW’s Washington director, Sarah Yager.

Amnesty International USA’s National Director of Government Relations and Advocacy, Amanda Klassing, is just as forceful. “The Biden Administration intends to put Human Rights at the center of its foreign policy, but this declaration does not fulfill that promise,” he laments before denouncing that “since the cessation of hostilities, the Ethiopian authorities have not taken significant steps towards the justice and accountability for the crimes committed during the conflict in northern Ethiopia”.

“The decision has been taken before we have been able to see a commitment to justice, while reports of human rights violations continue, in a politically expedient decision at the expense of survivors and victims,” ​​concludes Klassing.