Tigray: Time for the UN to Report on Attacks on Humanitarian Facilities and Personnel (World Peace Foundation)
Posted: 15 Jul 2021, 10:33
Since the outbreak of war in Tigray in November 2020, the Government of Ethiopia and its coalition partners have persistently obstructed humanitarian aid, pillaged and destroyed medical infrastructure and services, and incited violence against humanitarian workers. These actions have been well documented and are clear violations of international humanitarian law (IHL). Yet, the United Nations Security Council has failed to invoke resolution 2286, which was intended to prevent precisely such abuses against medical and humanitarian personnel and their activities, and seek accountability when they occurred. The UN Security Council met for the first time to consider the crisis in Ethiopia only this month. It has not condemned the systematic violations. Moreover, statements by UN Secretary General António Guterres have uniformly conveyed confidence in the assurances he has received from Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, most recently on July 9.
Resolution 2286 was adopted in May 2016, in the light of increasing violations against humanitarian staff and operations in armed conflicts. With special input from the International Committee of the Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières, the resolution drew upon disturbing patterns of violations in conflicts around the world including Afghanistan and Syria. In paragraph 1, the Security Council:
“Strongly condemns acts of violence, attacks and threats against the wounded and sick, medical personnel and humanitarian personnel exclusively engaged in medical duties, their means of transport and equipment, as well as hospitals and other medical facilities, and deplores the long-term consequences of such attacks for the civilian population and the health-care systems of the countries concerned.”
It calls for an end to such abuses and for accountability for perpetrators, and (in paragraph 12) requests the UN Secretary General to report to the Council,
“recording specific acts of violence against [humanitarian and medical personnel and facilities], remedial actions taken by parties to the armed conflict and other relevant actors, including humanitarian agencies, to prevent similar incidents, and actions taken to identify and hold accountable those who commit such acts.”
What might such a report contain? Here is an outline.
A conflict-induced humanitarian crisis
Approximately 5 million of 6 million people in Tigray are in need of emergency aid. As many as 900,000 are in conditions of famine. This is entirely the result of widespread pillage, destruction of objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, and obstruction and diversion of humanitarian assistance over the last eight months.
When fighting began between the Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF) and the forces of the regional government of Tigray on November 4,2020, aid convoys were blocked from entering Tigray for five weeks. Over the following seven months, The United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid (UNOCHA) has recorded over 130 incidents of agencies aid agencies being turned away at checkpoints and of staff being assaulted, interrogated or otherwise prevented from working in the region. With the murder of three MSF workers on June 26, the tally of aid workers killed in the conflict reached 13. This includes an employee of the Relief Society of Tigray, who was shot dead by Eritrean and Ethiopian soldiers in the central Kola Tembien district after declaring loudly that he was a humanitarian worker. The UN says that aid vehicles were still being turned away and aid workers assaulted and detained throughout the month of June. Notably, only one of 130 incidents of access violation prior to June was attributed to the Tigray Defence Force. The rest are attributed to members of the ENDF, allied Eritrean Defence Forces (EDF), and Amhara militia.
Continue reading https://sites.tufts.edu/reinventingpeac ... personnel/
Resolution 2286 was adopted in May 2016, in the light of increasing violations against humanitarian staff and operations in armed conflicts. With special input from the International Committee of the Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières, the resolution drew upon disturbing patterns of violations in conflicts around the world including Afghanistan and Syria. In paragraph 1, the Security Council:
“Strongly condemns acts of violence, attacks and threats against the wounded and sick, medical personnel and humanitarian personnel exclusively engaged in medical duties, their means of transport and equipment, as well as hospitals and other medical facilities, and deplores the long-term consequences of such attacks for the civilian population and the health-care systems of the countries concerned.”
It calls for an end to such abuses and for accountability for perpetrators, and (in paragraph 12) requests the UN Secretary General to report to the Council,
“recording specific acts of violence against [humanitarian and medical personnel and facilities], remedial actions taken by parties to the armed conflict and other relevant actors, including humanitarian agencies, to prevent similar incidents, and actions taken to identify and hold accountable those who commit such acts.”
What might such a report contain? Here is an outline.
A conflict-induced humanitarian crisis
Approximately 5 million of 6 million people in Tigray are in need of emergency aid. As many as 900,000 are in conditions of famine. This is entirely the result of widespread pillage, destruction of objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, and obstruction and diversion of humanitarian assistance over the last eight months.
When fighting began between the Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF) and the forces of the regional government of Tigray on November 4,2020, aid convoys were blocked from entering Tigray for five weeks. Over the following seven months, The United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid (UNOCHA) has recorded over 130 incidents of agencies aid agencies being turned away at checkpoints and of staff being assaulted, interrogated or otherwise prevented from working in the region. With the murder of three MSF workers on June 26, the tally of aid workers killed in the conflict reached 13. This includes an employee of the Relief Society of Tigray, who was shot dead by Eritrean and Ethiopian soldiers in the central Kola Tembien district after declaring loudly that he was a humanitarian worker. The UN says that aid vehicles were still being turned away and aid workers assaulted and detained throughout the month of June. Notably, only one of 130 incidents of access violation prior to June was attributed to the Tigray Defence Force. The rest are attributed to members of the ENDF, allied Eritrean Defence Forces (EDF), and Amhara militia.
Continue reading https://sites.tufts.edu/reinventingpeac ... personnel/