Int’l Rights Commission Report Violates Ethiopian Sovereignty, Appears Dishonest: Canadian International Criminal Law Expert

Addis Ababa September 22/2022 (ENA)  The International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE) report issued recently “violates Ethiopian sovereignty and appears to be dishonest,” a Canadian international criminal law expert said.

In an exclusive interview with ENA, the expert John Philpot said the report violates Ethiopian sovereignty.

“It’s a report which violates Ethiopian sovereignty. It is a report which appears to be dishonest as to the nature of the war in your country,” he stated.

According to him, the report was not based on “your sovereign right. It’s a biased report serving to correct and overturn the findings of the previous report (of the Joint Investigation Team).”

Moreover, there's also criticism of your country trying to starve people and the evidence which I have read is that your government is doing its best to transport food to areas affected by war, Philpot said.

“They have lied about the starvation issue. They have ignored important aspects of the crimes committed by the TPLF as if they are trying to sweep them under the rug so that the report can turn against the Ethiopian government. As a result, your government is in a safe position to reject it,” he stressed.

The legal expert believes that the report also does not seem to have proper footing, and it's kind of like they had a message they wanted. They wrote a report first and then they invented, pretended they had evidence. 

“My own view is that this type of western controlled report or investigation should not be allowed to work in any country in Africa. But that's the government's decision and I'm certainly not trying to step into their shoes,” Philpot added.

Recalling that the terrorist TPLF had committed atrocities, destruction and looting of  infrastructures in Amhara and Afar regions, he pointed out that all these things have to be proven, and yet this was not brought up in this report.

“There are lying about this, excluding it or being selective whichever kind of word you want to use you can be insulting and say they're burying this, hiding it or else they're saying maybe they're saying to themselves it's not true. I don't know what they did but they're obviously not telling the truth.”

Furthermore the expert stressed that they wanted to make a report which would corner the Government of Ethiopia and support the TPLF.

“This is the political purpose of this Commission which was not based on your sovereign right. So, it’s a biased report serving to correct and overturn the findings of the previous report,” he underscored.

Philpot concluded that it is a very weak report that doesn't respect international law and the sovereignty of the country.