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A GLIMPSE INTO THE FALSE START AND THE DANGERS SURROUNDING THE JOINT EHRC-OHCHR
INVESTIGATION IN TIGRAY



My name is Michael Minassie. I was an interpreter/translator for the joint
Ethiopian Human Rights Commission – Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights (EHRC-OHCHR) investigation into the reported human
rights violations in Tigray. After ten days of employment, I was forced to
resign from my original interpreter/translator position and was instead offered
the task of monitoring the human rights situation in Tigray. From my discussions
with the OHCHR team, I have come to understand that my removal from the joint
investigation team was solely due to the EHRC’s undue interference in the
OHCHR’s internal processes.

In this brief, I would like to address three major issues. First, I provide
details of why I was forced to resign from the joint investigation. Second, I
also give an account of what I witnessed during my short but eventful time as
member of the EHRC-OHCHR joint investigation team during the preparations and
early days of the joint investigation. Third and most importantly, I discuss why
the joint investigation fails to meet the minimum standard of an independent and
comprehensive inquiry under United Nations (UN) guidelines.

Spanning three decades, my professional experience in journalism,
communications, and public information includes work with the UN Mission in
South Sudan/Sudan (UNMISS+UNMIS), where I served as Radio Producer and
Programmes Coach. I have previously held roles at the United Nations Mission in
Ethiopia and Eritrea, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, and
Internews. For more than 15 years, I worked at Ethiopian Television, a national
TV station with the largest reach in Ethiopia. Chief among the prominent
programmes I produced was ‘Worento’ – an investigative programme focusing on
human rights violations, abuse of power, corruption, and accountability. I was
also the producer and host of a popular interview show in the English language,
‘Mekelle Foresight,’ broadcast by Tigray TV. ‘Mekelle Foresight’ focused on
Ethiopia’s politics, human rights, tensions, and how to avert war in Ethiopia. I
hosted over 40 high-profile current affairs interviews and documentaries. The
show was disrupted a couple of weeks after the declaration of war on Tigray on
November 4, 2020. With the imminent takeover of Mekelle by Ethiopia’s and
Eritrea’s combined forces, I, along with other journalists who feared for our
lives, went into hiding outside Tigray’s capital. On December 25, 2020, I
decided to return to Mekelle city, and eventually moved to Addis Ababa, where I
kept a low profile.

Although I had a Schengen visa at hand, it was difficult for me and many other
ethnic Tigrayans to exit Ethiopia after the war on Tigray started. In early May
2021, I began seeking income sources for my family while concealing myself from
the watchful eyes of the government and local informants. An opportunity
presented itself for me in this dire situation. It all started when I received a
call from an acquaintance who I knew during my assignment with the UN Mission in
Sudan and South Sudan. He intimated to me of a forthcoming UN job opening and
recommended that I apply. 

After applying for the job in mid-May 2021, I was successfully recruited by the
OHCHR to serve as an interpreter/translator for the joint (EHRC-OHCHR)
investigation into the reported human rights abuses in Tigray. I thought this
internationally sanctioned assignment would provide me with some immunity, at
least as long as it were to last, which I was told was for three months.
Tracking and investigating the widespread persecution, extrajudicial killings,
forced displacement and summary dismissals from jobs meted out against Tigrayans
throughout the country, I should have known better. I accepted the position, and
that is how, on May 16, 2021, I went back to Mekelle. My first day on the job
began with a half-day induction on May 17, 2021 when investigators and
interpreters of the joint investigation were briefed on the assignment and met
with one another. During that meeting, participants who spoke, like myself, made
our commitment clear to abide by the rules and remain impartial.

What happened afterwards, however, is strange, to say the least. We were told
that the EHRC objected to the involvement of two interpreters, myself included,
hired by the UN and demanded that we get removed from our positions. The EHRC
team apparently argued with the UN team that we lacked the impartiality required
for the task – I say apparently because the discussions happened in the absence
of the two of us implicated by the accusation. We only came to know about it
from a briefing by the UN team. The accusation that I lacked impartiality was
based on my prior work with Tigray TV. For my colleague, it was because of his
Facebook profile picture. So, we were not given the opportunity to defend our
position. We were informed by the OHCHR Addis Ababa Office that the EHRC opposed
our recruitment and that the OHCHR had no other option but to remove us from the
joint investigation. In that briefing, we were told the OHCHR tried to defend us
against the unjust and discriminatory stand of the EHRC. I would also like to
believe that the UN side stood against the EHRC’s undue effort to impose its
will on the UN, a body with global legitimacy and an equal partner in the task
at hand. To my surprise, the EHRC offered to hire interpreters for the
investigation, which the UN apparently refused.

Having been unjustly removed by way of resignation from the joint-investigation
team as Tigrayans, the UN eventually offered us, the aggrieved, another job as
human rights violations monitors in Tigray. I personally was aware of the
pressure the UN side had to endure and understood its caution to avoid being
bogged down with wrangling from the start. Despite understanding the difficult
situation the UN found itself in, questions still remained as to how and why
this situation came to be; the OHCHR did not clearly communicate with us here.
So, aggravated by my experience, I started investigating to get to the bottom of
our dismissal. Moreover, I also started to gather information informally –
informally because we were not issued UN IDs yet and wanted to be as discreet as
possible so as not to attract the ire of the security personnel – and look into
the human rights issues from sources in the internally displaced persons (IDP)
camps and others affected by the war.

Almost all circumstantial evidence I gathered appears to point to one main
reason for our dismissal. It relates to EHRC’s decision to control the probe and
steer its outcome in a certain direction. In the course of my research, I found
out that the EHRC had ulterior motives to hide or skew critical issues in the
human rights investigation in Tigray. The ulterior motive of the EHRC became
evident when the joint teams started their investigation work in the IDP camps
in Mekelle. For instance, when investigating the atrocities that happened in Mai
Kadra, they showed reluctance in uncovering the truth from the Tigrayan victims
and survivors, who are still alive and sheltered in IDP camps in Mekelle and
Shire or have crossed the border to Sudan. The rest have been evicted from their
land due to Amhara forces’ ethnic cleansing campaign against Tigrayans. Instead
of going into the investigations without preconceived notions about the
atrocities and the identity of the perpetrators, the EHRC was biased from the
start–clinging to the findings of the methodologically flawed Mai Kadra report. 

The lead investigator in the November 2020 Mai Kadra investigation, Albab
Tesfaye, was also a member of the joint investigation team. And despite Daniel
Bekele, Chief Commissioner of the EHRC, having to admit that Tigrayans were
victims in Mai Kadra in June 2021, the joint investigation team came in with
preconceived notions based on accounts of the events that were proven false by
accounts from Tigrayan refugees in Sudan who recounted their experience of the
brutal massacres against Tigrayans in Mai Kadra.

The investigators seem to have made up their mind as to what to expect from the
IDPs before having interviewed them. During the half-day induction, one of the
EHRC investigators who facilitated the presentation on the code of conduct of
interpreters cautioned us that we would come across people who would tell us
lies about things that never happened. As a member of the investigation team, he
was supposed to be open-minded and not second-guess the response of the victims
even before he met them. In essence, he told us to not just interpret word for
word what the victims were saying, but instead selectively choose what to
translate–something which is not the job of an interpreter. It is up to the
investigator to find ways of fact-checking the claim, not the interpreter.

From the information I received from the IDP camp authorities, some EHRC
investigators acted like police interrogating alleged criminals. This is
incredibly worrying as, according to the sources, the EHRC investigators did not
take into account the victims’ traumatic experiences during this period. For
instance, when an IDP who fled for his life gives testimony about how his family
members and friends were killed after they remained in their areas, one would
find it in the investigator’s mandate to try to learn how he came to learn of
the killing, record his response, and check the veracity of the testimony
through multiple sourcing. Instead, they engaged in arguments trying to corner
victims through rigorous cross-questioning and derogating his or her claim. That
is overstepping the professional bounds. Their tone, according to the sources,
was also intimidating and demeaning. My sources went on to say that anyone
appearing on the scene in the middle of the interview would know whether the
investigator was part of the EHRC or OHCHR from the interview techniques the
respective partners employ.

Even when they faced IDPs in Mekelle, the investigators focused many of their
questions on humanitarian aid and the situation in the camps, instead of
focusing on reported human rights violations and war crimes. The purpose of this
strategy was two-pronged: firstly, it is to deprive the victims of enough time
to testify about cases of acts of genocide, ethnic cleansing, widespread and
systematic rape and other gross human rights violations, which should have been
the team’s major preoccupation as per the mandate of the investigation.
Secondly, by prodding the IDPs to complain about humanitarian relief and camp
management, the EHRC team wanted the blame to be shifted to the international
community. It is interesting to note that one of the EHRC investigators
criticized the international community for not matching their calls for the
Tigray government to allow uninhibited humanitarian access, and in doing so was
parroting a narrative that trickled down all the way from the Ethiopian
Government. In fact, the lack of humanitarian access has been widely attributed
to the Ethiopian government as reported by aid organizations on the ground and
credible international media outlets.

Indicative of the power imbalance of the joint investigation, the dismissal of
my colleague and myself illustrates just how much power the EHRC has to dictate
terms in its work with the independent work of the OHCHR. The OHCHR recruited me
and the other interpreter-translator according to the UN’s rules and regulations
in line with the standard for staffing investigations. That despite the protest
from the OHCHR, the EHRC was allowed, and able to rid of even those recruited by
the UN is indicative of a much more dangerous state of affairs and sinister
desire to determine the findings of the investigation in a certain way. The
crisis of independence and impartiality of the joint investigation can also be
corroborated by the fact that the composition of the investigators lacks the
diversity of professionals drawn from different parts of the country. Not only
was the selection process shrouded in secrecy, but it is also widely believed
that key investigators of a desired ethnicity dominated the EHRC team. Some of
the remaining interpreters-translators are currently facing illegal interference
and pressure from EHRC to resign from their role. The EHRC’s key investigators
are intensifying pressure on interpreters/translators that are still working.
This also indicates OHCHR intensifying failure to shield itself from unwarranted
interference.

In its desperate effort to keep its partnership with EHRC and the Ethiopian
Government, the OHCHR has permitted the EHRC to interfere in its staff members’
internal recruitment and retention. Our forced resignations and the composition
of key investigators indicate the problems at the core of the joint
investigation. OHCHR has sacrificed the independence and impartiality of the
investigation for the sake of keeping a partnership with EHRC.

Though short, my exposure to the internal workings of the joint investigation
has convinced me that the joint investigation fails to meet the minimum standard
of an independent and comprehensive investigation as stipulated under the UN
guidelines. 

My observations and my ongoing conversations with those contacted for interviews
indicate that confidentiality and anonymity of the victims interviewed may not
be ensured. The EHRC and its investigators are appointed to operate under the
strict purview and control of the Ethiopian government, which in turn has
interfered with the OHCHR’s internal functioning. Because of the highly
sophisticated Ethiopian and Eritrean security apparatus, victims and witnesses
did not feel safe in telling their stories. They are afraid, reluctant, and
unsure about answering questions.

After my forced resignation, I faced more pressure and the threat of
persecution. With the reported round-ups of Tigrayans in Addis Ababa and travel
bans on some who tried to fly out of the country, I started to look for ways to
relocate outside of the country. It is horrifying to note that all this time,
the EHRC, after depriving us of our right to work based on false accusation and
discrimination, did not stop at that. It continued to harass us. I have reason
to believe that  the EHRC team leader was working with government security
forces, putting us under their strict surveillance. Speaking for myself, I have
tangible tips from those concerned about my security that I was closely followed
and could have been exposed to some form of harm as a result. Afraid for my
safety, I decided to leave my consolation job and fly out of the country. I was
lucky to have made it through the airport with its numerous security
checkpoints. 

Additionally, I have recently learned that the EHRC team has asked another
interpreter to “resign or face the consequences.” This is yet another indication
that the EHRC team has continued to flaunt its discrimination and obstruction at
whim. The architect of the botched Mai Kadra investigation is again at the
centre of all these injustices. The OHCHR has allowed the EHRC to dictate the
process of investigation.

The joint EHRC-OHCHR investigation has not established an impartial and
independent account of the atrocities in Tigray. There are many reasons for
this, but the main ones are the involvement of the EHRC as a proxy for the
Ethiopian and Amhara governments and the OHCHR’s decision to succumb to the
pressure from the Ethiopian government. The EHRC and its leadership are publicly
and broadly perceived as siding with Abiy’s administration among the Tigray
populace. The involvement of the EHRC has been counterproductive, as people have
decided to not cooperate with the investigations. Tigrayans expect the inquiry
to be conducted independently by an UN-mandated body.

So, this is far beyond an attack on my person, a trampling of my right to work.
It is about the victims’ right to justice and effective remedies. It is about
establishing truth and facts for the sake of dialogue and reconciliation in the
country.

The joint investigation has not offered an independent, impartial and credible
international report on the egregious violations of fundamental human rights and
international humanitarian law committed against the people of Tigray. An
independent, UN-mandated commission of inquiry is essential in finding the path
of peace making in Ethiopia.

Michael Minassie – December 17, 2021




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