PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Tigray: Human Rights (11 March 2021)

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of reports of (a) Human Rights Watch and (b) the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission of the (i) massacre in Axum and (ii) potential scale of human rights abuses in Tigray.

Asked by:
Fleur Anderson (Labour)

Over recent weeks multiple reports - including from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission - have begun to document the scale of abuses and violations in Tigray. Since the conflict started, the UK has consistently called for an end to fighting, and for all parties to the conflict to prioritise the protection of civilians. On 26 February I stated that we are deeply saddened and concerned by the reports from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch on the human rights violations of civilians in Axum, Ethiopia. These require a serious and urgent response from the Government of Ethiopia. We continue to call for independent, international investigations into these and other crimes reported in Tigray, including in multilateral fora, such as the UN Security Council and the UN Human Rights Council, and for the Government of Ethiopia to ensure full access for human rights organisations. We have made this clear to the Government of Ethiopia.

Answered by:
Sir James Duddridge (Conservative)
19 March 2021