# taz.de -- Ethiopia's EHRC chief: „I remain hopeful“ | |
> Daniel Bekele, head of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, speaks | |
> about his work, the Joint Report with the UN and the perspectives for | |
> peace. | |
Bild: Daniel Bekele | |
This interview was conducted on the day that Daniel Bekele received the | |
German Africa award 2021 from the Deutsche Afrika-Stiftung in Berlin on 18 | |
November 2021. The German version published in TAZ on 19 November can be | |
found [1][here]. | |
Taz: Congratulations on [2][the award] you're getting tonight. But isn't it | |
unfortunate timing now to be giving a human rights award to Ethiopia? | |
Daniel Bekele: I am honoured and humbled by the award from Germany. It | |
definitely is a difficult time for Ethiopia, but the award is also a | |
recognition of the efforts of institutions and human rights workers like me | |
who are trying to work in a very difficult situation. Every time you | |
recognise a human rights institution or human rights defender, we never | |
forget the pain and suffering of people behind those stories. There's never | |
a good time for a human rights award because it's always a story of human | |
suffering, but I'm encouraged by the fact that there is international | |
recognition and support for the difficult work we are doing. | |
How has the current situation affected your work? There's a state of | |
emergency, and criticising what's being done under the state of emergency | |
is illegal. Surely that's a problem for you? | |
Not in a direct way, because one of the mandates given to my institution is | |
monitoring the human rights situation even in times of state of emergency. | |
As recently as yesterday we reported about a wave of arrests and human | |
rights concerns around that. | |
In that report, [3][you expressed concern] about your inability to gather | |
information and compile a report on detainees detained under the state of | |
emergency. So how does it work in practice? Are you able to do your work? | |
We go out on investigation and monitoring missions. In some detention | |
centres we get the necessary cooperation to ask for information, to visit | |
detainees, and we get access to some of these places. But there are also | |
places where we are not able to get access due to lack of cooperation by | |
the security officers at the particular police station. But this is a | |
challenge that we work with even without a state of emergency. According to | |
the law we should have unhindered access. It's a new law which has given | |
power to the Commission, and a lot of regional and federal level law | |
enforcement officers are yet to understand how this new law is to be | |
applied actually. So it's a work in progress. | |
Do you feel you are able to report freely on what you are able to gather? | |
We report freely, as evidenced by the work we have been doing over the last | |
two years, including during the state of emergency. So no restriction, no | |
interference whatsoever. | |
You undertook the [4][Joint Investigation with the UN Human Rights | |
Commission] on the war in Tigray which caused quite a stir when it was | |
published. There was criticism of that investigation, saying it was unduly | |
influenced by the government. Would you agree with that? | |
I totally would disagree, because it was not influenced by the state at | |
all, and it would probably be good if my UN colleagues spoke out on that. | |
Some people may not have confidence in my commission, but I hope they have | |
confidence in the UN. I don't think the UN got into this to be influenced | |
by the state. I understand where such criticisms and concerns come from, | |
and we are open to criticism and feedback, but I have also seen a lot of | |
very unfair and inaccurate accusations, including smear campaigns. | |
One accusation is that ethnic Tigrayans were removed from the | |
investigation… | |
Completely inaccurate. No ethnic Tigrayans were removed from the | |
investigation team from the EHRC side. There were two ethnic Tigrayans who | |
stayed as members of the investigation team throughout the investigation | |
period. Our Commission has staff from across the country, and we also have | |
a branch office in Mekelle, the capital of Tigray, and all the colleagues | |
in the Mekelle office are ethnic Tigrayans as well, so this is completely | |
inaccurate. | |
Another accusation: you were unable to visit places unless authorised by | |
the government, so that many places you should have visited could not be | |
accessed. | |
That was one of the major limitations of that report, as we have clearly | |
stated in the report itself. When this joint investigation was established | |
with the UN, we had a list of places we wanted to access to be able to do a | |
comprehensive account of the human rights situation, but unfortunately | |
because of the reality on the ground – that the Federal Government withdrew | |
from Tigray following its unilateral declaration of ceasefire – we were not | |
able to access parts of Tigray, because the TPLF did not accept this joint | |
investigation and refused to cooperate. That's really the main reason, and | |
the security situation. But somehow we have managed to speak with people | |
who have fled from those areas and are now residing in IDP camps. So at | |
least we have tried to complement that gap. And finally this report by no | |
means purports to be comprehensive, even for the areas we have visited, but | |
it is fairly reflective of the general patterns and I'm hoping in the | |
future there would be an oppportunity to cover other areas as well. | |
And then there is the issue about satellite phones which were ordered for | |
the team and then not issued. | |
We have also clearly stated that in the report. It was one of the | |
challenges and limitations in the investigation process. The team members | |
needed satellite phones for their safety and security. The clearance | |
process from the government time unnecessarily took a long time and | |
unfortunately the investigation team was moving around the country without | |
these facilities, which meant that it compromised the security of our | |
staff. But luckily nothing bad has happened and this has not in any way | |
hampered their work. It was unfortunate that those satellite phones were | |
not put into use, but in no way did it affect the investigation. | |
So you're saying the investigation was not affected by the question of | |
whether the staff are secure or not? | |
No, what I'm saying is: Whenever you go on an investigation mission, you | |
want to make sure your staff are safe. And I was concerned that our staff | |
did not have this communication facility in some of the places they | |
travelled to where network connection is either unavailable or very poor. | |
But it did not affect the actual investigation they did in terms of talking | |
to victims, witnesses, families, gathering information. They were able to | |
do their work despite the lack of telecommunication facilites. | |
One final criticism: that victims may not have felt free to speak because | |
sometimes the investigators were accompanied by security personnel – maybe | |
not uniformed, but civilian ones. Can you confirm that? | |
That's completely inaccurate. We have never interviewed a single person in | |
the presence of anyone else, whether a uniformed person or non-uniformed | |
person. This is standard practice in any human rights investigation. You | |
don't get to be accompanied by anyone. This is a joint investigation team, | |
people from the EHRC, people from the UN, nobody else. | |
What should happen now with this report? What should be the consequences, | |
from your point of view? | |
I hope this report would contribute to three outcomes. One is: concrete | |
measures of accountability for perpetrators from all sides. I would like to | |
see governments, particularly the Ethiopian government, begin to take some | |
concrete measures to hold perpetrators to account on the basis of in-depth | |
criminal investigations. Second, concrete actions and measures for redress | |
for victims and rehabilitation of victims and humanitarian workers. Lots of | |
people's lives have been completely shattered. Many of them have told us | |
repeatedly: They want their life back. They lost their property, they've | |
been displaced, they lost their loved ones, so it's very important. And | |
finally I would like to see the report being a basis for a search for a | |
sustainable solution for this unfortunate problem, which essentially is a | |
political problem and needs a political solution. | |
What could a sustainable solution look like? | |
First and foremost it should start with a cessation of hostilites. The gun | |
has to stop, on both sides. Then you require a series of | |
confidence-building measures on both sides. There would be a list of | |
demands and questions from all sides to this conflict, and it is about | |
starting a process of resolving those differences in talking, in | |
negotiation, in having a conversation. But the first step is stopping the | |
guns, allowing unhindered humanitarian access and bringing brothers and | |
sisters together to resolve their differences in a peaceful way, and this | |
should be doable. | |
Do you see the willingness on both sides to do that? | |
I am encouraged by the fact that in recent efforts, with the leadership of | |
the AU Special Envoy and the support of the US and EU envoys from behind, | |
both sides have in principle agreed that this problem requires a political | |
solution. We have not yet seen that being translated into actions on the | |
ground, but I think we are beginning to see some hope of mediation out of | |
this crisis. | |
At the same time there has been quite a lot of inflammatory public | |
statements and hate speech from some people on the government side towards | |
Tigrayans, which has caused some on the other side to say there's a | |
genocide ongoing or in preparation. What do you say to that accusation? | |
The joint investigation identified a wide range of human rights violations | |
and abuses, some of which amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes. | |
But at least as far as the joint investigation is concerned we have not | |
identified legal and practical elements of the crime of genocide. The term | |
genocide is a legal term we should be very careful in using and applying. | |
Sadly in Ethiopia's recent ethnic-based conflict it's a term that a lot of | |
people use. Almost all ethnic groups in Ethiopia would tell you there is a | |
genocide against them. Which partly is a reflection of lack of | |
understanding of what exactly a genocide means, and partly popular | |
understanding of genocide to mean any ethnic based targeting and attack and | |
killing. But I am concerned by the rhetoric you mention in this conflict | |
situation. The rhetoric from all sides in this conflict is quite | |
inflammatory and inciteful of violence. We have made repeated calls in the | |
past for all sides, including their supporters and media workers, to | |
refrain from hateful speech, inciteful speech, and be mindful of | |
dehumanising terms. It's an unfortunate reflection of an extremely | |
polarised, toxic political environment. | |
Has ethnic polarisation got worse in Ethiopia in recent years? | |
Oh, it has definitely got worse, there is no question about that. This | |
whole idea of ethnic-based political organisation in Ethiopia has | |
undoubtedly divided communites along ethnic lines in quite a polarising | |
way. The ethnic-based political organisation of the state was meant to be a | |
response to a history of inequality among ethnic groups in Ethiopia, but | |
unfortunately it has caused more problems than it solved. Ethiopia as a | |
multi-ethnic and diverse country definitely needs some kind of federal form | |
of administration, but whether or not that needs to be ethnic based is one | |
of the big questions that Ethiopians have to confront. Because it's | |
probably one of the factors contributing to the tensions and the conflict. | |
Is Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed rising to the challenge? Or is he adding fuel | |
to the fire? | |
I hope the Prime Minister is taking his responsibility seriously. I am | |
encouraged by the fact that he himself and his administration responded | |
positively to the findings and conclusions and recommendations of the joint | |
investigation. Historically the Ethiopian government has been very | |
dismissive of international human rights investigation reports. This is the | |
first time that the government agreed to a joint investigation on the | |
Ethiopian human rights situation, and probably the first time the | |
government responded positively to human rights findings and conclusions | |
and recommendations, including some serious violations that credibly | |
implicated the Ethiopian forces. So that gives me hope that he is rising to | |
the challenge. | |
If you look at Ethiopia's future, are you hopeful or pessimistic? | |
I remain hopeful, despite the very depressing story we document. I remain | |
hopeful looking at how Ethiopians are the first to come to support victims | |
irrespective of their ethnic group. Host communities are the first | |
humanitarian assistants for displaced people, neighbours are the first to | |
come to the rescue of their neighbours and friends even in the midst of | |
terrible massacres. So I remain hopeful that Ethiopians will overcome this | |
difficult time. There is no question that this sad war has torn apart the | |
fabric of communities and people's relationships, and it will definitely | |
take time to heal those wounds, but I believe there is still hope for | |
Ethiopia to come together, find a peaceful solution to our problems and | |
move forward. This is not the first time Ethiopia has faced a major | |
challenge in our history. So I remain hopeful that we shall overcome these | |
difficult times. | |
18 Nov 2021 | |
## LINKS | |
[1] /Menschenrechtler-ueber-Krieg-in-Aethiopien/!5812599 | |
[2] https://www.deutsche-afrika-stiftung.de/deutscher-afrika-preis/daniel-bekel… | |
[3] https://addisstandard.com/news-ethiopia-rights-commission-says-inability-to… | |
[4] https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=27756&… | |
## TAGS | |
Äthiopien | |
Tigray | |
Menschenrechte | |
Äthiopien | |
Afrobeat | |
Äthiopien | |
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