Human Rights International

It has been over a year since the explosion of August 2020 rocked Beirut, killing 218, wounding 7000, damaging 77,000 residences, and displacing over 300,000 people (HRW 2021). These numbers are huge, and the damage to Beirut far worse in the 6-second explosion than in the entire 15-year civil war, but beyond this is the indescribable emotional harm it has caused the people of Lebanon. One year on, no justice has been had, no one has been punished, and the Lebanese people continue to sink deeper into its government’s cavity of corruption and defeat. 


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Since the outbreak of COVID several sectors have been temporarily suspended due to not having  the correct safety equipment during the pandemic resulting in millions of essential workers having  their jobs and income disrupted. Although wage theft was a prominent problem among temporary  contract migrant workers , COVID 19 has amplified the problem. 

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THE TIGRAY CRISIS: A CALL FOR PEACE
Bloodshed, gross violence, and devastation. Sadly, this is what Ethiopia, the nation that is home to the second-largest population in the African continent, has been reduced to. In fact, the month of August marks nine months since the civil war broke out in the country between the Ethiopian defense forces and the ruling government of the Tigray region. While the civil war began under the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed as a conflict grounded in ruthless political ambitions and ethnic divisions, today it has transformed into one of the worst humanitarian crises that the world has witnessed in recent times.

In view of headlines trending on our social media feed and news channels such as “Medics on the run” and “How I survived an 11-hour gun battle” (BBC 2021), it becomes important for the international community to analyze the happenings in the country urgently. Thus, delving deeper into the crisis, one cannot help but notice that the civil war is a culmination of the unique political history of Ethiopia built within its social framework based upon ethnic divisions, making it impossible to examine the present conflict without an investigation into the modern Ethiopian political history. In fact, this can be traced back to the year 1994 when it had been only a few years when Ethiopia had ended the infamous civil war leading to the establishment of Eritrea as a separate nation. In view of the unusual social framework where people of the nation were largely divided based on their ethnic divisions from centuries with Oromo and Amhara forming the majority community and the Tigray people forming the minority community of the nation, thereby prompting the government structure to be built upon careful consideration and inclusion of these community groups in the day-to-day governance of the nation. Indeed, a BBC report shows that the Tigray People’s Liberation Front representing the Tigray region was instrumental in devising the new governance framework, which also consequently led the party to lead a government coalition that came to power in 1991 despite being in small numbers in comparison to the majority ethnic groups of the country (BBC 2021). While Ethiopia was hailed in the international community beginning from the year 1991 on account of its stability and the crucial role in peacebuilding processes played by the nation in the Horn of Africa and the Nile base region, the reports coming from within the nation suggest a different situation. Desperate and drained from the dictatorial model rule, the Ethiopian leaders who continued to be represented by TPLF till 2018 were met with condemnation from people across the nation for playing an active role in the suppression of democracy, mass killings of journalists, restricted press freedoms, etc. It was this popular discontentment that emerged among the ordinary masses of the nation that led to the new appointment of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

Young and approachable, PM Abiy, not only lived up to the expectations of the people, especially the youth of the nation, but also carved himself an international reputation for pursuing active political and social reforms in the country such as the release of thousands of illegally detained prisoners, but most importantly for ending the age-old conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 . Having regarded their neighboring nation, Eritrea, as their sworn enemy for decades, several measures undertaken by the PM fell under the scrutiny of the ruling government of TPLF. However, this animosity towards the new governance of the nation, as well as its leader PM Abiy, reached new levels when the coalition headed by the TPLF was disbanded and the new ruling party, the Prosperity Party was formed which was not only rejected unanimously by TPLF but also prompted strong reactions from TLPF as well as the people of the region which included an attack on the Ethiopian military base from the region.

Condemning the action as an attack on the national security, the new ruling government led by PM Abiy in cooperation with the Eritrean military forces was quick to not only brand the previous ruling party as a ‘terrorist group’ but also to cut down the funding allocated to the entire state of the Tigray people (Financial Times 2021). Culminating in a full-fledged civil war and even what can be designated as an attempt at genocide, an estimated two million people of the state were forced to flee and seek asylum in neighboring countries such as Sudan. This inevitable response comes because of the report published by the Human Rights Watch which has presented an indictment of the government actions that include suspension of internet and other communication services, repression of media outlets, burning down more than half of the harvest produce resulting in one of the most devastating man-made famines that the world has ever seen (HRW 2021). Aggravating the situation is the brutal sexual violence inflicted upon women and children making them the worst sufferers of civil wars (HRW 2021), which also stands testimony to the fact that the situation in Ethiopia is no longer a political conflict but an atrocious crackdown on humanity as a whole!

Indeed, upon close analysis, one cannot help but notice the fact that the civil war is a distressing portrayal of the vanity and maliciousness of human beings where ruthless political ambitions take over compassion and sympathy of even once Nobel Peace Prize-winning politicians such as PM Abiy, who has also unfortunately resorted to the classic way of ensuring power i.e., authoritarianism. It is thus high time that the international community stop turning a blind eye towards the people affected by the Tigray conflict, because they need our help, NOW! While there has been progress in this war against humanity with the United Nations agreeing to include the same in its agenda as opposed to the earlier stance that the crisis can only be regarded as an “internal matter”, it becomes our responsibility as global citizens to persuade international organizations and societies to issue the R2P and to restore peace and harmony in the region.



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