Jurist Ethiopia expels UN officials putting millions at risk: HRW report

[Dadparvar]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report on Friday in response to a decision by Ethiopia’s federal government to declare seven senior UN officials as “persona non grata,” meaning they are unwelcome in the country.

HRW noted that this announcement comes only days after the UN chief for humanitarian relief warned that the Tigray region in Ethiopia would “slip into famine,” as over five million people in the region are dependent on humanitarian aid.

The report also states that the Tigray region is not the only region in Ethiopia at risk. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs highlighted in a report on Friday that in recent weeks the humanitarian needs in the Amhara and Afar regions have grown, with thousands of people displaced as the Tigray conflict has spread. They reported that there is a rapidly increasing humanitarian need with the number of internally displaced people rising.

Even with the help from the UN, the delivery of humanitarian supplies to the regions is heavily constrained and restricted due to conflict and insecurity.

The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres stated,

I was shocked by the information that the Government of Ethiopia has declared seven United Nations officials, including senior United Nations humanitarian officials, as persona non grata . . . all United Nations humanitarian operations are guided by the core principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence. In Ethiopia, the United Nations is delivering life‑saving aid – including food, medicine, water and sanitation supplies – to people in desperate need. I have full confidence in the United Nations staff who are in Ethiopia doing this work.

Guterres noted that the UN is now engaging with the government of Ethiopia in the expectation that the concerned UN staff will be allowed to continue their work in the country.

The post Ethiopia expels UN officials putting millions at risk: HRW report appeared first on JURIST - News - Legal News & Commentary.

Continue reading...

Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.