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OLF is Troubled to Believe the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission Reports
\nOLF Press Release \u2013 August 27, 2021
\nThe Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) claims to be an independent agency charged with
\npromoting human rights and investigating human rights abuses in Ethiopia. However, we repeatedly
\nobserved that some of the reports and press releases are biased, and politically motivated. We believe
\nthat an autonomous human right organization must conduct independent, professional, and unbiased
\nhuman rights duties and excel its public responsibility in fair and impartial manner. We also believe that
\nit is good practice to corroborate investigation from various sources including field data in relevant
\nregions, gathering information from sources that may include \u201cfamilies of victims, eyewitnesses, and
\nresidents of the places of violation\u201d, from government authorities as well as referring to national and
\ninternational human rights laws to verify atrocities.
\nBut unfortunately, we see lack of appropriate investigation methodology, independence, and
\nprofessionalism from the top leader of the EHRC and its staff. It is obvious that the EHRC is government
\naffiliated body and the leadership at the top have their own political motives and ethnic preferences that
\ninfluence their practices in excelling their responsibilities in a professional way. From careful observation
\nof past reports, we see that some statements are biased, mostly where the conflict hotspots were
\nbetween Amhara and other nations and nationalities such as Oromo, Benishangul -Gumuz, and Tigray.
\nAccording to the information we received from residents (that can be verified by consulting people in the
\nlocal areas), the facts incorporated into some EHRC reports were compiled based on consultation with
\nthe government authorities who carry out the atrocious themselves. The investigations ignore accounts
\nof actual victims in some areas. This lack of data corroboration, unfairness and lack of professionalism
\nhad been demonstrated in many investigations and reports of the commission. Most of the reports were
\neither biased or misleading the public about the facts on the ground. Also, sometimes, the commission
\nignores reporting major human rights abuses that took place in some areas that might not attract the
\ninterest the officials of the commission. Also, we observe that, at times, there were lack of keeping
\nconfidentiality and anonymity of informants that might expose some individuals to further atrocities by the
\ngovernment agents. In general, it appears that the Chief Commissioner of EHRC and his personnel are
\nintentionally producing politically and ethnically motivated reports.
\nAlthough we saw many biased and misinforming reports in the past, the Press Release issued yesterday,
\nAugust 26, 2021, has particularly grabbed our attention. The report clearly shows that the EHRC has
\nimplicitly concealed the merciless atrocities of the Amhara militias and government forces on Oromo
\ncivilians and exaggerated \/ highlighted the Amhara victims. The report stated that the Oromo Liberation
\nArmy (OLA) has killed 150 Amhara residents in East Wallaga Zone, Gidda Kiramu Woreda. The report
\nalso highlighted that the killing was ethnically motivated against Amhara people. However, as we verified
\nfrom the actual victims and residents in the areas, the EHRC press release issued on 26 August 2021
\nfails to mention the political drama that took place few days before the incident. As it had been done
\nseveral times in the past, the government agents and allied forces had organized a political drama few
\ndays before the fight started. The aim was to campaign against the OLA operating in the area. Two days
\nbefore the incidents, armed Amhara Special Forces from Amhara region crossed the Abbay river and
\ndeployed to the places known as Gidda Ayana, Kiramu, Hagamsa and Amuru-Jartee -Woredas. The first\u0002round of their mission was to evacuate Amhara women and children from these areas. In the meantime,
\nthe Government cut telephone lines and networks in the area to block communication and information
\nleakage and to prepare for the hidden massacre. The second mission was to conduct the actual war and
\nto kill as many civilians as possible in the area and to spread false propaganda on the media for political
\ngain by labelling the OLA as if they conducted ethnic targeted killings. After the children and women had
\nbeen evacuated, the Amhara militias, in collaboration with government forces, come back in large number
\narmed with heavy weapons and opened fire on Oromo residents in places known as Wast, Siredoro,
\nHagamsa, and Haroo\/ Lalisee towns. The fight continued for three days, and they killed a large number
\nof Oromo civilians. This massacre was not mentioned in the EHRC report, but the Amhara killings were
\nhighlighted in the report and put to various media outlets to blackmail the OLA. Therefore, OLF consider
\nthat the press release issued on 26 August 2021 stating the killings of 150 Amharas in East Wallaga was
\nbiased, incomplete and untrue.
\nOLF express its condolence for civilians and their families that might have been affected in this conflict.
\nIn addition, we want to make clear that our information on the actual number of people killed in the conflict
\nis to be verified as it is difficult to identify figures in the short period of time as the conflict in the areas still
\nescalates.
\nTherefore, we call for independent investigation into this incident report of EHRC issued of 26 August
\n2021 regarding the OLA and Oromo people in stated regions so that it will be clear to the Oromo and
\nEthiopian peoples as well as to the international community.
\nWe would like to inform all media including BBC Oromo program to be cautious reporting this biased
\nreport of the EHRC and refrain from misinforming the public. Instead, we advise them to verify the facts
\nfrom the victims themselves.
\nWe ask the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and related human rights watch groups to monitor the
\nactivities of the EHRC and scrutiny its credibility so that the institution will be able to function according
\nto the UN Human Rights Council standards and Human Rights guiding principles and practices. The
\nUNHRC must confirm that the EHRC demonstrate their professionalism, fairness, and equitable
\ncampaign for all Ethiopia peoples.
\nFinally, we advise the EHRC to carry out its public duties according to the UNHRC standards and guiding
\nprinciples and free itself from biases of ideology, political views, and ethnic preferences.
\nVictory to the Masses!
\nOromo Liberation Front.
\nAugust 27, 2021
\nFinfinne, Oromia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
OLF is Troubled to Believe the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission Reports OLF Press Release \u2013 August 27, 2021 The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) claims to be an independent agency charged with promoting [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oromoliberationfront.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oromoliberationfront.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oromoliberationfront.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oromoliberationfront.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oromoliberationfront.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/oromoliberationfront.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oromoliberationfront.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oromoliberationfront.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oromoliberationfront.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oromoliberationfront.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}