BY FITSUM GETACHEW
Many people are heard asking with indignation, “Why are the so called human rights groups almost always biased when it comes to reporting on presumed ‘violations’ committed by Ethiopia? Why these organisations are observed presenting biased reports when it comes to third world countries, particularly African countries? Why are they seen using double standards when they deal with ‘the same kinds of violations’ depending on where they are reportedly committed or who committed them? Are human rights violations different in Europe or the US as opposed to those in Africa or Asia? Are human rights variable depending on who and when they are committed or are they universal and integral, indivisible and hence not good today and bad tomorrow depending on who violates them or why!?
It is not the first time that some so called human rights groups have reported in an unbalanced and disparaging manner on events that take place in Ethiopia. To begin with, it is not their first time when they publish reports that are often insulting and dismissive when they write reports on third world countries. No doubts if there are people who have doubts about the ‘partisanship’ of these bodies for their ‘master employers’ that are mainly sources that are very near some western countries.
The recently repeated reports on Ethiopia and some other African countries are amply demonstrative of what lies exactly behind the slanted or one sided reporting of these declaredly neutral bodies. But in reality they are the long arms of certain well identifiable bodies that finance them and/or pay them extra money to serve them as a ‘lobby group’.
Even if we choose to be magnanimous and reserve them the ‘benefit of doubt’ on their real intentions, we cannot help noting how deliberately amateurish they look when they know or must at least suspect that the methodology they use to collect their evidence or data needs to be counterchecked or double checked before publishing them or submitting them to their allies’ media organisations for very large dissemination. The consequences are easy to guess.
This is exactly what they have done the other day when they said they found sexual violence as a means or weapon of war used by the Ethiopian defense forces etc. during the days they were on a mission in the north. It is evident that they do not even bother a second if they could be suspected of being partial in their allegations never going to the required length to try and dig for the truth! To begin with the people who solicit them to make certain reporting are people who are clearly affiliates of the terrorist organisation TPLF bent on disseminating chaos and death wherever they may be engaged.
They are affiliates or at least sympathizers of the same or people who for one reason of another have made it their raison d’être the development of their professional career by either opposing at all costs what ever kind of government reigns in Ethiopia or are well engaged in giving away as much information on Ethiopia and its internal affairs that could be of confidential nature for non citizens as they would not be in a position to appreciate well the context in which things happen in Ethiopia or in Africa in general.
The most troubling of omissions that these organisations are not supposed to do is linked with two clear episodes of the gravest of atrocities committed against innocent citizens! In the aftermath of the counterattacks that the Ethiopian national defence forces took against the terrorist TPLF junta, the retreating militia and organized crime groups by TPLF committed the most heinous of crimes against innocent citizens who have nothing to do with the belligerent forces and were largely daily labourers or farmers residing in a place called Maikadra in the western part of the Tigray region.
Later reports showed that as many as more than a thousand innocent people were massacred only because they were found to be of the wrong ethnic nationality! This has never been heard of in our history and it is a shame that even the so called human rights organisations who did come to be informed about what exactly happened and why failed to expose it to the world at large with due emphasis.
This is a scandal because there are no means of underplaying such violations! Why did they prefer to underplay this heinous act and why have they not condemned in the strongest terms while they made it their mission to try and report every alleged violation of human rights in other parts of the regional state accusing the Ethiopian federal forces of harsh acts? Again a few weeks ago there were the most brutal of attacks on civilians including children mortared by the terrorist TPLF forces including the burning down of humanitarian assistance prepared and stockpiled in a warehouse in Galikoma in Afar Regional state.
Any human rights organisation worthy of its name would never neglect to report such a violation of huge proportions. It could never be an issue of siding with this or that organisation but one of siding with humanity! Even under war situations there are non crossable lines and this is one of them!
The way these so called human rights bodies have treated these two glaring violations of human rights against every code of conduct is simply scandalous. It shows how biased they are and how one sided they could be and how they could have their own missions or hidden agenda. No one in Ethiopia will take these bodies seriously because we see them report only what they think is important for their political motives or missions and not what is actually a concern of any neutral human right organisation. This has served us as a further evidence that their reporting is mostly one sided and their emphasis depends on who did what and when rather than look at things from a neutral vantage point.
Accusing of Ethiopia of all sorts of abuses and violations and trying to exert on it international pressure and submit to the wishes of the allies of the terrorist group is something no Ethiopian would ever succumb to. It is a shame that these bodies try to twist the arms of the Ethiopian government to sit down and negotiate with terrorists that are trying to unmake the country and declaredly so!
No country on earth would accept to such proposal because it would be tantamount to committing suicide! No one would ever confer any form of trust to such a body politic that sits down with those who are trying to destroy or eliminate it! It would just be suicidal!
We have noted consistently that these so called human rights advocates have almost always worked driven by the long arms of western geopolitical interests and many would say outright ‘western imperialism’. It appears that they are never as energetic in their conclusion as when they denounce grave violations of human rights in western countries for instance.
Are western countries free of violations of human rights? Does their affluence or the fact that they avail of the strongest military establishment exempt them from being questioned if they are involved in human rights violations? Or it allows them to be free of responsibilities in countless episodes of blatant human rights violations whenever their long arms extend.
There are several reports of blatant human right violations committed even in these very opulent societies where the very forces that are meant to protect and defend human rights are seen violating them in the open. We have seen what sort of systematic violations of human rights have been committed consistently in various circumstances where there are social minorities and immigrant communities.
It is not a secret that these powerful countries have consistently violated human rights wherever their influence spreads and where they find some sort of resistance to their dominion. Then these so called human rights organisations step in to discredit any or all of these governments so that at a certain point they would step in militarily or arm and train some other local organisation that tries to depose the legitimately formed government or any government that the people of the given country may accept as a legitimate government.
As long as the government in power is an ally of these powerful forces, their violations are tolerated or skipped while if it is about nations that do not exactly give in to the requests of these states such as what the situation is in Ethiopia now, any allegation of human rights violations are exaggerated and campaigned up on to discredit the state and prepare the ground for a condemnation and probably sanction economically! This is not only unfair but also immoral and every Ethiopian must reject it emphatically!
The likes of ‘Amnesty International’ increasingly look like partisan political organisations that have well identifiable motive in the affairs of countries such as Ethiopia. At present Ethiopia is not remissive to any of these bodies who have their own interests, long term or medium term! Ethiopia’s position is the choice of the people who are being governed by the current party chosen by them. We do not see how this should be a wrong unless there is a specific mission handed these bodies by its ‘supporters’ or ‘sponsors’? Why should it persistently try to hit the headlines of international western media by denouncing unverified and unsubstantiated allegations when they know it cannot be attributed to the people it cites? If we are being led to believe what we see under our watch, how can we trust them when they talk about things we are less familiar with?!!
Editor’s Note: The views entertained in this article do not necessarily reflect the stance of The Ethiopian Herald
The Ethiopian Herald September 2/2021
