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Tigray Global Advocacy Group
24 April 2023
Joseph Fontella Borrell
EU High Representative for
Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
Vice-President of the European Commission
Honorable Mr. Josep Borrell,
We, the undersigned members of the Tigrai Global Advocacy Group (TGAG), like to register our concerns and appeal to a higher sense of justice for the catastrophe that befell our people not to be dismissed or pushed under the rug for political expediency. Your consistent call for accountability of perpetrators of crimes against humanity led us to you as the last bastion of global justice for the oppressed, voiceless, and have-nots in contrast to the US, supposedly the “land of the free and home of the brave.”
Because the root cause of the atrocities carried out on our families was the Middle East hegemony which involves the US and economic powers, Saud Arabia, and United Arab Emirati (UAE), the chance of our appeal prevailing is closer to zero. Nonetheless, we must appeal to the highest courts of justice, and it appears yours is but the only one. Currently, the EU is not directly involved in the hegemony but indirectly because the unstable Horn of Africa adversely impacts the Asian Gateway to Europe.
On the released EU Council Conclusions, we are discouraged from reading equivocations on the EU’s consistent and clearly stated desire to pursue accountability for the atrocities committed in Tigrai. The EU used code words and terms for the first time today. “Finally, the EU stands ready to support the process of achieving transitional justice and accountability.”…” The EU welcomes the Green Paper on transitional justice and encourages the GoE to continue taking concrete steps in advancing options contained therein.”
We are further devastated by the Council’s eagerness to normalize relations in the face of ongoing repression and right-out killings of civilians in the Amhara and Eritrea-occupied woredas of Tigrai. The atrocities are no longer bearable to the Tigrai youth, who now prefer death during migration to neighboring countries or Europe over the ongoing killings and repression. You were aware of the fate of Eritrean refugees that drowned in the Mediterranean Sea trying to cross to Europe. The speculation is now the reality and preventable future of the Tigrai youth. Please watch the attached video.
We are also dismayed to note that the Council expects a full report from the International Commission of Human Rights Expert on Ethiopia (ICHREE) when it knows well that the team, for obvious reasons, has been forbidden to enter Tigrai. We also read this as a sign of the EU withdrawing from its commitment to advocate against the blatant crimes against humanity, dismissed as validated, but sanctioned normalization of the grave and heinous crimes.
As you are aware, the Government of Ethiopia believes and is prepared to campaign on domestic adjudication. It calls transitional justice the only option for accountability for the atrocities in Tigrai. Because of the gravity of the war crimes against humanity, the UN Human Rights High Commissioner has countered and pointed out apparent shortcomings that prevent the Government of Ethiopia from delivering justice of international standards. The justice infrastructure of Ethiopia is incomplete, short-resourced, and closed enough to preclude the participation of global expertise. Should not the EU at least back the UN in this instance?
TGAG concurs with the following EU position: “In line with international human rights’ norms and standards and supported by an international component, such as the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR), independent, transparent and impartial investigations into all allegations of violations and abuses of human rights, as well as violations of international humanitarian law and international refugee law, committed by all parties, are both urgent and essential.”
“Finally, the EU stands ready to support the process of achieving transitional justice” and accountability. “Transitional Justice” is a code term for “domestic justice,” which Ethiopia is nowhere near carrying out or implementing; it is light years away from that. Regional political analysts understand and recognize that entangled in the Ethiopian Justice system is its seamless association with corruption.
Thus, members of TGAG strongly feel that it is a serious departure of the EU Council to waver on its stand on the moral universal value of accountability on which the oppressed, the voiceless, and the have-nots depend for equal justice in the law. The words of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1936 to the League of Nations: “It us today. It will be you tomorrow”.
Sincerely,
Tigrai Global Advocacy Group (TGAG)
Seattle, Washington
USA
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