Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to We Will Erase You from This Land: Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing in Ethiopia’s Western Tigray Zone published by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International on 6 April 2022, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the recommendations of that report.

We note the report published on 6 April by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Its findings and other reports of widespread human rights violations and abuses committed by all parties to the conflict are extremely worrying. These include mass detentions, extrajudicial killings, torture, sexual and gender-based violence. UK Ministers and senior officials have underscored to the warring parties - at the highest levels - their obligations towards civilians. The protection of all civilians needs to be prioritised, human rights respected and those responsible for human rights abuses and violations held to account.

At a Special Session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) on 17 December 2021, the UK supported and voted in favour of an EU-led resolution on Ethiopia which created an International Commission of Experts to investigate human rights abuses and violations committed during the conflict, and have pushed for this to be properly resourced. We urge all sides in the conflict to cooperate with this Commission of International Experts.