Lord Alton of Liverpool and the Coalition for Genocide Response invite you to a webinar:
Spotlight on the Tigray Region of Ethiopia: The Need for an Urgent Response
16 March 2021, 4:00 – 5:00 PM GMT
Zoom
In recent months reports have emerged highlighting the deteriorating situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. In August 2020, Genocide Watch issued a genocide warning for Ethiopia In October 2020, Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, US Holocaust Memorial Museum, warned about the high risk of further atrocities. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have issued warnings of atrocity crimes in Tigray. At the end of January 2021, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten reported on serious allegations of sexual violence in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, including a high number of alleged rapes in the capital, Mekelle. In March 2021, we now hear reports of starvation being used as a weapon of war against the targeted communities.
The dire situation in the Tigray region requires an urgent response. Panellists will discuss the situation in the Tigray Region and consider steps that must be taken by the UK, other states and international bodies.
Speakers include:
Lord Alton of Liverpool, Cross-bench Peer, Patron of the Coalition for Genocide Response
Alex de Waal, Executive Director, the World Peace Foundation
Martin Plaut, Institute of Commonwealth Studies
Further speakers to be announced.
Please register here: https://spotlightontigray.eventbrite.co.uk
This is the exchange in the Lords yesterday:
And some previous questions and interventions:
thiopia: Northern Tigray Region – Question (2 Dec 2020)
Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the announcement by the government of Ethiopia on 30 November that military operations in the northern Tigray region are complete, what assessment they have made of the situation in that region; and what access they have (1) requested, and (2) been granted, to the region to establish (a) humanitarian needs, and (b) any evidence of war crimes.
Ethiopia: Northern Tigray Region – Question (2 Dec 2020)
Lord Alton of Liverpool: …for that reply. Can I press him further on the issue of the humanitarian corridor? Will this conform to United Nations principles of neutrality, and will access be granted to our diplomats to visit Tigray? Secondly, how do we intend to hold to account those who have been responsible for the torture of refugees, the forced reform of refugees and some pretty barbaric acts which have been…
Written Answers — Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Ethiopia: Armed Conflict (8 Dec 2020)
Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Baroness Sugg on 24 November (HC Deb, cols 134–9), why the UN Security Council meeting to consider the conflict in Tigray due to occur on 24 November was cancelled and rescheduled for later that day; what was the outcome of that meeting; and what assessment they have made of reports that people were killed and injured as a…
Written Answers — Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Ethiopia: South Sudan (8 Dec 2020)
Lord Alton of Liverpool: …Sudan diplomats have been expelled from Addis Ababa, and (2) Ethiopian diplomats have been expelled from Juba; what assessment they have made of how those expulsions relate to military action in Tigray; and what discussions they have had with the government (a) of South Sudan, and (b) of Ethiopia, following those expulsions.
Written Answers — Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Ethiopia: Armed Conflict (16 Dec 2020)
Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to ask the government of Ethiopia (1) to establish a humanitarian corridor into the Tigray region, and (2) to ensure that any such corridor is supervised in conformity with the neutrality principles laid down by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs; and what plans they have to seek access for UK diplomats to all areas…
Written Answers — Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Ethiopia: Overseas Aid (21 Dec 2020)
Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of reports that the EU is considering withholding aid from the government of Ethiopia until the impact of the conflict in Tigray on human rights in the region can be assessed; how much UK aid was given to Ethiopia (1) last year, and (2) over the past decade; and what plans they have, if any, to use UK funding to the government of…
Written Answers — Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Ethiopia: Eritrea (21 Dec 2020)
Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of (1) reports from UN refugee camps in Tigray of the forcible return of Eritrean refugees to Eritrea, and (2) whether any such refugees are at risk of (a) torture, and (b) imprisonment, in Eritrea; whether they have raised this matter with the government of Eritrea; and, if so, what response they have received.
Written Answers — Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Ethiopia: Humanitarian Situation (24 Dec 2020)
Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of reports (1) that UN workers were shot at by Ethiopian forces in Tigray, and (2) that the provision of humanitarian aid to areas of Tigray that are not controlled by the government of Ethiopia has been blocked; and what steps they intend to take in response to the statement by the International Committee for the Red Cross on 8…
Written Answers — Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Ethiopia: Armed Conflict (29 Dec 2020)
Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of reports (1) that the Eritrean military is fighting in Tigray, (2) that people have been abducted and returned to Ethiopia, and (3) of the seizure of Tigrayan land by (a) the government of Eritrea, and (b) the Amhara regional government; and what assessment hey have made of the impact of any such actions on the long-term…
Written Answers — Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Ethiopia: Humanitarian Situation (14 Jan 2021)
Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether humanitarian corridors are being established in Tigray as part of the UN operation in that region; whether any such corridors will conform to the principles of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs; whether such corridors will be supervised by the government of Ethiopia in a way that does not compromise the neutrality of the…
Written Answers — Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Ethiopia: Armed Conflict (14 Jan 2021)
Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the use of ‘quiet’ diplomacy to resolve the conflict in Tigray; and what plans they have to withhold aid to Ethiopia until the impact of the conflict on human rights can be assessed.
Written Answers — Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Ethiopia: Armed Conflict (14 Jan 2021)
Lord Alton of Liverpool: …Her Majesty’s Government whether they have made representations to the government of Ethiopia to accept the role of the African Union’s former presidents in mediating an end to the conflict in Tigray; and if so, what response they have received.
Written Answers — Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Ethiopia: Humanitarian Situation (14 Jan 2021)
Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of reports from UN refugee camps in Tigray region that Eritrean refugees are being forcibly returned to Eritrea; whether they have raised concerns with the government of Eritrea about such reports; and what steps they are taking to uphold the UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ mandate to protect any refugees in its care.
Written Answers — Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Tigray: Refugees (25 Jan 2021)
Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to end the forced repatriation of refugees to Eritrea from refugee camps in Tigray; and what assessment they have made of (1) reports of armed attacks on those refugee camps; and (2) of the humanitarian needs of the refugees in those camps.
Written Answers — Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Ethiopia: Armed Conflict (29 Jan 2021)
Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the World Food programme about the humanitarian requirements of people displaced by conflict in Tigray; and what estimate they have made of the number of people who have been so displaced.
Written Answers — Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Tigray: Armed Conflict (3 Feb 2021)
Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the statement from the UNHCR on 19 January concerning the impact of the conflict in Tigray on Eritrean refugee camps in the region.
Written Answers — Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Tigray: Armed Conflict (3 Feb 2021)
Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the damage to cultural monuments and artefacts caused by the conflict in Tigray; and whether they intend to ask UNESCO for its response to any such assessment.
Written Answers — Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Internally Displaced People: Armed Conflict (4 Feb 2021)
Lord Alton of Liverpool: … they have made of the estimate by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that more than 58,000 refugees have fled into neighbouring countries to escape the conflict in Tigray; and what estimate they have made of the percentage of the 79.5 million people estimated by the UNHCR to be currently displaced worldwide who are so displaced as a consequence of conflict.
Written Answers — Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Tigray: Armed Conflict (8 Feb 2021)
Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of reports of damage and looting as a result of a military offensive by the government of Ethiopia in the diocese of Adigrat in Tigray.
Written Answers — Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Tigray: Humanitarian Aid (24 Feb 2021)
Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the statement by the President of the Ethiopian Red Cross Society that 80 per cent of Tigray is currently unreachable for aid access and that people are at risk of starvation.
