The State of Emergency Inquiry Board for the

Tigray Region The Tigray Region, officially the Tigray National Regional State, is the northernmost regional state in Ethiopia. The Tigray Region is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob, and Kunama people. Its capital and largest city is Mekelle. Tigray is ...

is an Ethiopian governmental body created to monitor, investigate and prevent

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

violations during the

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...

of the Tigray War that started in late November 2020.

Creation

The State of Emergency Inquiry Board was established under Article 93/6 of the

1995 Constitution of Ethiopia The Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (), also known as the 1995 Constitution of Ethiopia, is the supreme law of Ethiopia. The constitution came into force on 21 August 1995 after it was drawn up by the Constituent Asse ...

by the Ethiopian

House of Peoples' Representatives The House of Peoples' Representatives is the lower house of the Ethiopia, Ethiopian Federal Parliamentary Assembly. Located in the capital Addis Ababa, the House has 547 members. All are elected in theory for five-year term in single-seat constit ...

(HoPR) in November 2020 in the context of the

declared at the beginning of the Tigray War.

Statutory role

Under Article 93/6, the Inquiry Board is obliged to (a) publish the names of anyone arrested under the state of emergency and the reasons for the arrest within a month; (b) investigate and prevent "inhumane" measures; (c) recommend corrective measures to the prime minister or cabinet; (d) "ensure prosecution" of people suspected of inhumane acts; (e) present its views to HoPR on any request to extend the state of emergency. On 22 January 2021, the NGO

Ethiopian Human Rights Council The Ethiopian Human Rights Council or EHRCO is an Ethiopian human rights non-governmental organisation created in 1991 by Mesfin Woldemariam and 31 colleagues shortly after the dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam was overthrown. EHRCO's funds and s ...

(EHRCO) described the Inquiry Board's role as including human rights investigations during and after the war.

Members

The Inquiry Board is chaired by Lemma Tesemma. The other six members are Jembernesh Kinfe, Hawa Ali, Alebachew Lakew, Zerihun Petros, Askale Tilahun and Wendimu Gizaw. In November 2020, Lemma invited complaints about the implementation of the state of emergency to contact the Inquiry Board by telephone, postal mail, email, online social networks or in person at the Parliament.

Actions

In early December 2020, after onsite visits, the Inquiry Board stated that crimes by the

Tigray People's Liberation Front The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF; ti, ህዝባዊ ወያነ ሓርነት ትግራይ, lit=Popular Struggle for the Freedom of Tigray), also called the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, is a left-wing ethnic nationalist paramilitar ...

(TPLF) against civilians and in the

4 November Northern Command attacks On 3–4 November 2020, forces loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) launched attacks on the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) Northern Command headquarters in Mekelle and bases in Adigrat, Agula, Dansha, and Sero in the ...

constituted a

crime against humanity Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the c ...

and that the TPLF would be "accountable" to the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals ...

(ICC). According to

Ethiopian News Agency The Ethiopian News Agency ( am, የኢትዮጵያ ዜና አገልግሎት ''Ye-Ityopya Zéna Agelgelot'' (IZA) or ENA) is the official news agency of the Government of Ethiopia. It is the oldest news organization in Ethiopia. IZA's inception d ...

, the chairperson Lemma called for "hunting down" of suspects. On 12 December, the Inquiry Board stated that refugees returning from Sudan accused TPLF forces of bribing Sudanese security forces to assault civilians. The Board described the events as war crimes for which the suspects would be accountable to the ICC. In relation to the

Humera massacre The Humera massacre was an ethnic mass murder event carried out in November 2020 in the town of Humera () in the Tigray Region of northwestern Ethiopia, next to the Sudanese border. The massacre took place during an armed conflict between the ...

, the Board reported on 20 civilians deliberately killed in the intensive care unit in the Humera Hospital.

References

{{Tigray conflict Government agencies of Ethiopia