Tigray Complaint Press Release 8.2.22

PRESS RELEASE
LANDMARK CASE FILED AGAINST ETHIOPIA FOR

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN TIGRAY
Nairobi, 8 February 2022
Today, Legal Action Worldwide (LAW) and its counsel Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, as well
as the Pan-African Lawyers Union (PALU) have submitted a landmark complaint against
Ethiopia before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the “African
Commission”) for serious and massive human rights violations against Tigrayan civilians.
This is the first time that the African Commission, which is responsible for promoting the
rights contained in the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (the “African
Charter”), and ensuring their protection in Africa, has been requested to examine the conduct
of Ethiopian forces in Tigray.
The complaint alleges that Ethiopia is responsible for a wide range of human rights violations
under the African Charter, including military targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure;
mass and extra-judicial killings; gender-based sexual violence; arbitrary arrest and detention;
mass displacement of civilians; destruction of property, foodstuffs, and religious and cultural
heritage sites; ethnic discrimination; and enforced information blackouts.
The complaint requests that the African Commission order Ethiopia to stop all violations and
abuses against civilians in Tigray, allow unfettered access of food and humanitarian aid to the
region, and ensure the protection of the human rights of all Ethiopians, especially in Tigray.
It also requests that the African Commission immediately order these measures on an interim
basis to protect Tigrayan civilians from urgent risk of irreparable harm.
While reports suggest that violations and abuses have been committed by different parties to
the conflict, against civilians from different ethnic groups, this complaint is submitted on
behalf of Tigrayans victims and survivors who constitute the overwhelming majority of
victims, and have been subjected to horrific violence and crimes as a result of Ethiopia’s
killing campaign against its own citizens. Legal Action Worldwide represents victims from
Tigray, who have provided testimony for the case but could not be listed as complainants due
to fear of reprisals from the government.
Antonia Mulvey, LAW’s Executive Director, said: “The African Commission has a unique
opportunity to stand by victims and survivors from this conflict, to order emergency measures
to stop unlawful killing of civilians trapped in Tigray, and to hold Ethiopia to account. We
are keen to work alongside the Commission’s Inquiry, to put an end to the impunity that has
allowed these crimes to continue.”
Donald Deya, Chief Executive Officer of PALU, said: “The Government of Ethiopia is
obliged by both its Constitution and international law to protect all its citizens and residents
from mass atrocities and violations of their human rights. Where it is unable or unwilling to
uphold the same, as is the case here, we must seek recourse to competent international
institutions. Hence, our urgent appeal to the African Commission.”
1
Catherine Amirfar, Co-Chair of Debevoise’s International Dispute Resolution and Public
International Law Groups, said: “We are honored to amplify the voices of Tigrayan victims
and to seek accountability for those who perpetrated horrific crimes against them. We call on
the African Commission to urge the government to end and remedy the abuses for which it is
responsible.”
Notes to Editors
The conflict in the Tigray region of Ethiopia began in November 2020 between, on the one
hand, the Ethiopian National Defence Forces, the Eritrean Defence Forces, and the Amhara
Regional Defence Forces, and, on the other, the Tigray Defence Force. Since then, civilians
from all sides have suffered most of the violence, with reports of brutal massacres including
of children, and widespread conflict related sexual violence including rape, mass rape and
gang rape. According to the United Nations, the conflict has displaced an estimated 2.2
million people in Tigray, as well as 250,000 in the Amhara region and 112,000 in the Afar
region. Half a million of those who remain in Tigray now face famine-like conditions, and
60,000 refugees crossed the border into neighbouring Sudan.
* * *
For media interviews requests, please contact mattkyns@gmail.com
LAW is an independent, non-profit organisation of human rights lawyers and jurists working
in fragile and conflict affected areas. LAW provides legal aid to victims and communities
that have suffered human rights violations and abuses in Africa, the Middle East, and South
Asia.
Debevoise is a global law firm headquartered in New York with a broad public international
law practice, including in representing parties before regional and international courts and
tribunals. Debevoise is pro bono counsel to LAW in these proceedings.
The Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) is the premier continental membership forum of
and for individual African lawyers and lawyers’ associations in Africa, operating from its
Secretariat in Arusha, Tanzania. PALU was founded in 2002 by African Bar leaders and
eminent lawyers to reflect the aspirations and concerns of the African people and to promote
and defend their shared interests. Its membership comprises the continent’s over five regional
lawyers’ associations, over 54 national lawyers’ associations and individual lawyers spread
across Africa and in the Diaspora, working together to advance the law and the legal
profession, rule of law, good governance, human and peoples’ rights and socio-economic
development of the African continent.

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PRESS RELEASE

LANDMARK CASE FILED AGAINST ETHIOPIA FOR

For media interviews requests, please contact mattkyns@gmail.com

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