Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what specific action they have taken to mitigate risk factors, and prevent atrocity crimes, in response to the conclusion of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia in October 2023 that “eight of the Common Risk Factors for atrocity crimes are present in Ethiopia and that there is evidence to suggest that certain indicators of majority of the Specific Risk Factors for atrocity crimes are also present”; and what steps they are taking to support continued international scrutiny and independent investigations into past and ongoing violations in Ethiopia.

The UK has repeatedly called for those responsible for atrocities in Ethiopia to be held to account. The UK was strongly supportive of the establishment of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE). The UK has deployed an expert to support the drafting of Ethiopia's national Transitional Justice Policy and we are working to promote a survivor-centred, gender-sensitive approach. We fund UNOHCHR to deploy international human rights monitors and build early warning networks of CSOs and human rights defenders. Through our Human Rights and Peacebuilding Programme, we are supporting the investigative capacity of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and facilitating dialogue between groups from across Ethiopia.  We regularly convene with likemindeds to coordinate support and ensure accountability for atrocities and human rights violations and to ensure the effective, full implementation of the Tigray peace agreement and the Transitional Justice Policy once finalised.