Int’l Human Rights Orgs Failing to Employ Proper Methodologies, Procedures in Investigation
Some international human rights organizations have failed to employ proper methodologies and working procedures during investigations, Consortium of Ethiopian Human Rights Organizations (CEHRO) Executive Director Mesud Gebeyehu noted.
In an exclusive interview with ENA, the executive director said the legitimacy of most of the human rights reports are questioned as they lack the proper methodologies procedures.
According to Mesud, one of the major problems which has been witnessed in human rights reports on Ethiopia is that the investigations are conducted remotely and driven by social media campaigns.
Many of the human rights entities cannot show the reality on the ground since the very methodologies and procedures of the investigations are influenced by media campaigns against Ethiopia, he elaborated.
“The human rights organizations need to have first hand information and primary sources of data. In this case, however, there have been social media campaigns that didn’t properly reflect the reality on the ground. Maybe the findings are somehow misleading.”
The executive director further revealed that there is also a tendency by some rights organizations to conduct their investigations remotely. This mistaken approach should be taken seriously as it is critical in determining findings of the investigations based on the gathered information.
He noted that there are lots of mistaken reports of human rights violations even in preliminary reports of local civil societies and the international media as in the case of the Mai Kadra massacre committed by the TPLF.
The key problem of humans rights reports, particularly with regard to Tigray region, is the remote approach of the investigators and their lack of interest to work closely with the Government of Ethiopia, Mesud pointed out.
“In this case, the international media and allegations of detractors will negatively influence the investigation. Despite this the government is closely working with various human rights, entities including the UN Human Rights Council and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission; and their report will soon be made public.”
The executive director underscored that human rights organizations should work closely with the government and get the blessing of the government to have comprehensive information about what is happening on the ground.
Mesud said, “Whenever such kinds of inquiries on human rights abuses are to be investigated, the first thing that needs to be done by the government is invite these entities. It is obvious that this is happening in a sovereign country.”
Source: Ethiopia News Agency