Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she is taking steps to help support an independent investigation by the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia into allegations of civilians being killed by Oromia Liberation Army forces in the Welega zone of Ethiopia on 18 June 2022.

The UK is a strong supporter of the work of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia, having co-sponsored the resolution mandating its creation at the Special Session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) in December 2021, and is urging all parties to help facilitate its investigations. It is for the Commission to interpret the scope of its mandate and decide whether it can investigate these events. The UK will continue to support the work of the Commission and of the wider UN in its efforts to ensure that those responsible for these atrocities are held to account.

The British Embassy in Addis Ababa will continue to engage with the Government of Ethiopia to highlight the importance of processes to deliver accountability and justice for all incidents of human rights abuses or violations. The UK's Human Rights and Peacebuilding Programme (HARP) is providing support, including to enhance the investigative capacity of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission.