Human Rights Responsibilities of States in Armed Conflicts Case of Eritrean Involvement in Ethiopia’S Tigray War

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Human Rights Responsibilities of States in Armed Conflicts Case of Eritrean Involvement in Ethiopia’S Tigray War Human Rights Responsibilities Of States In Armed Conflicts case of Eritrean involvement in Ethiopia’s Tigray war Freweyini Hadush Kebede Spring semester of 2021 Independent written essay within the field of constitutional law and human rights, 15 credits Master’s programme in constitutional law and human rights, 60 hp Supervisor: Elizabeth Perry Contents LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................................... 3 1.Introduction .................................................................................................................. 4 1.1 Background .............................................................................................................. 4 1.2 Statement of the problem .......................................................................................... 6 1.3 Purpose of the study ................................................................................................. 6 1.4 Research question ..................................................................................................... 7 1.5 Methodology ............................................................................................................ 7 1.6 Scope of the study .................................................................................................... 8 2. Nature of the conflict; is it armed conflict or law enforcement operation? ............... 8 2.1Army conflict vs. law enforcement operation ............................................................ 8 2.2Internal armed conflict .............................................................................................. 9 2.3 Does the involvement of Eritrea internationalize the conflict? ................................ 12 3. Does ICCPR apply during war time? ........................................................................ 13 3.1 ICJ on the issue ...................................................................................................... 14 3.2 Applicability of ICCPR to extra territorial armed conflict ....................................... 15 3.3 Universality of human rights .................................................................................. 16 3.4 Positive obligation .................................................................................................. 16 3.5 Negative obligation ................................................................................................ 17 3. ICJ decisions and advisory opinion ........................................................................... 17 4. Law of internal armed conflict in extraterritorial armed conflict ........................... 18 5. The right to life during internal armed conflict; ICCPR and international humanitarian law ........................................................................................................... 19 5.1 The right to life in ICCPR ...................................................................................... 19 5.2 The right to life in international humanitarian law; common article 3 and additional Protocol II of the Geneva Convention .......................................................................... 20 5.3 Persons protected by the convention ....................................................................... 20 5.4Violation of the right to life during armed conflict ................................................... 21 6 Discussion .................................................................................................................... 22 7. Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 26 8. Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 28 2 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS DRC Democratic Republic of Congo EPLF Eritrean People's Liberation Front EPRDF Ethiopia People's Revolutionary Democratic Front ICC International Criminal Court ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ICJ International Court of Justice ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross ICTR International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda ICTY International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia TPLF Tigray People's Liberation Front 3 1.Introduction 1.1 Background At the age where the world has arrived at a consensus on the necessity of human rights to everyone regardless of race, color, sex age, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status, millions are still suffering abuse and violation. Notwithstanding the misery of the people around the world, Africa’s case is the worst. Far more human rights and humanitarian crises are attributed to African dictatorial governments and the endless civil war they start to remain in power. Ethiopia is no exception; the country has waged war in one of its regions with the help of foreign country which caused an immense human and humanitarian crisis. Thus, the study will examine the ongoing armed conflict by specifically focusing on the grave human rights violations committed by the foreign state (Eritrea) and will try to determine the accountability of the state in light of international human rights conventions and humanitarian laws. Before directly dealing with the issue, the author will provide some historical developments that contribute to the current armed conflict. Ethiopia, which is located in the fragile Horn of Africa, suffered a persistent civil war that lasted from 1974 to 1991 which brought the communist party commonly known as Derg to an end. After the downfall of DERG, TPLF that led the armed struggle against Derg for 17 years started ruling the country for the last 27 years by forming a coalition with other regional parties called EPRDF.1 The overthrow of Derg not only marked a shift of the country’s political and economic ideology from a communist unitary to a federal liberal state, but also resulted in the creation of a new state in the Horn of Africa, called Eritrea. TPLF was not the only major party that caused Derg to lose power; EPLF was alongside the party, struggling for the independence of Eritrea.2 Both EPLF and TPLF, regardless of their complicated relationship, were allies in the armed struggle against Derg. Thus, after the crash of Derg, TPLF and EPLF controlled Addis Ababa and Asmara, respectively. Their partnership made it simple for Eritrea to declare independence by conducting a referendum which got 98.3% of the Eritrean people's support.3 Ethiopia, which was notorious for famine, has brought remarkable economic growth that took millions out of poverty in the last two decades.4 Despite the economic achievement, the country couldn’t go long-distance in democratic and good governance aspects. Consequently, riots broke out across the country, opposing the dictatorship of the ruling party of EPRDF. In response to the uprising, the party elected Abiy Ahmed as prime 1 Aregawi Berhe, A Political History of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (1975-1991): Revolt, Ideology and Mobilization in Ethiopia,VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT,Amsterdam 2008,P. 314 2Ibid,P.239 3Report of the Secretary-General, United Nations Observer Mission to Verify the Referendum in Eritrea,11 August 1993, P12 4world bank group, Ethiopia’s great run the growth acceleration and how to pace it, February ,2016, p.3 4 minister in 2018. Upon coming to power, because of the measures he made to widen the political space of the country, not only Ethiopians but westerners were optimistic. Release of political prisoners, repeal of the law of nongovernmental organizations, and media law, which had negative implications for the press freedom and building of a democratic system were among the measures that made millions hopeful. The prime minister, shortly after taking power started targeting TPLF by putting all the blame EPRDF did on the party which roughens the relationship both had. As a result, TPLF, which moved back to the Tigray region after the prime minister took power, felt betrayed. The establishment of a new party called the Prosperity party replacing EPRDF was another factor that exacerbates the hostile relationship. TPLF, which was among the parties that formed the EPRDF coalition party, refused to merge into the newly formed the Prosperity Party. After the event, TPLF and the prosperity party engaged in a war of words blaming each other for any wrongdoings. Not only, the targeting of TPLF and the formation of Prosperity Party deteriorated the relationship of the prime minister and TPLF, but the peace deal he made with Eritrea as well. The peace deal, which gave rise to the Nobel peace prize to be awarded to the prime minister, ended no peace no war condition between both states after the 1998-2000 border war.5 Certain analysts suspected the peace deal was an unholy alliance formed to annihilate TPLF instead of bringing peace to the people.6 Considering the hate relationship between EPLF and TPLF that led to the border war, it would be unwise to disregard the claim of these people who cast doubt on the genuineness of the agreement between the countries. The TPLF, although left out by the prime minister in the peace deal, welcomed the accord with reservations.7 On top of these events, an extension of an upcoming election by the federal government, which faced strong opposition by the TPLF, made clear that the relation between the parties was irreparable. The federal government led by the prosperity party
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