Islam Fawki: The human rights situation in Ethiopia is still complex

Today, during the 42nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights presented an intervention under Item 6 of the UPR, during which it called on the Ethiopian government to take further reforms in the field of human rights.

As Islam Fawki, Director of the Policy Analysis Unit at Maat Foundation, confirmed that the human rights situation in Ethiopia is still intertwined despite recent developments, including the arrival of a new political leadership in the country, and the decisions that followed that would calm the situation and change the political and human rights scene, including the cancellation of the Emergency, and Parliament's approval of a government project to remove the internal armed opposition movements from the list of terrorism, which led to the release of hundreds of opponents as part of a national reconciliation process. The state of conflict with Eritrea, which had claimed about 80,000 lives, was also ended, the borders between the two countries reopened, and a tripartite agreement was signed between Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia.

Fawki added that despite the rapid developments towards improving the situation in Ethiopia, there are a number of challenges facing human rights issues, including the escalation of ethnic violence between nationalities and ethnicities in the country, which caused the displacement and asylum of about 1.8 million Ethiopians, as well as the continuing dispute between Central government and some armed fronts that would threaten the ongoing reforms.

Finally, the Director of the Policy Analysis Unit called on the Ethiopian government to cooperate with the United Nations mechanisms and other international organizations in order to overcome the restrictions and challenges related to improving the human rights situation.