Attorney General Tables Draft Nat'l Human Rights Action Plan for Discussion

Addis Ababa January 5/2021 (ENA) Political parties, representatives of civic organizations and religious institutions discussed today a draft National Human Rights Action Plan prepared by the Federal Attorney General.

The third action plan aimed at developing strategies to improve human rights in a coordinated manner at national level and in line with other national plans will run for five years, it was learned.

National Human Rights Action Plan Office Head, Medhanit Tamene told the stakeholders that  the plan would improve protection of human rights, develop problem-solving systems, improve laws and institutions, and improve the implementation of regional and international human rights treaties.

According to her, the third action plan was developed by taking a number of lessons from the past and is based on issues raised by the public and stakeholders as well as regional and international human rights obligations and recommendations.

This plan is also based on the principle that “human rights are interconnected, interdependent and inseparable” and is designed to focus on specific rights, it was indicated.

Attorney General Gedion Timothewos said on the occasion that despite the work done to promote respect for human rights, much work needs to be done to bring about a culture of human rights and to achieve systematic results.

In this regard, the third action plan was prepared based on the realities in the country in order to further enhance the implementation of human and democratic rights and ensure the benefit of the citizens, he added.

Observing that the previous action plans were bulky and difficult in terms monitoring and evaluating, the attorney general said the present draft action plan is more focused and would help to easily implement and monitor human rights violations.

The participants stated on their part that the draft action plan will contribute toward improving the human rights condition in the country.

The enriched action plan is expected to be implemented starting from next Ethiopian year.