Rep. Crow Leads Letter to Request Update on Ongoing Human Rights Concerns in Ethiopia

WASHINGTON — Today, Congressman Jason Crow led a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressing concerns related to the human rights situation in Ethiopia and requesting an update from the Department of State on whether the Government of Ethiopia is engaged in a pattern of gross violations of internationally-recognized human rights.  

In the letter, Congressman Crow details decisions made by the Department to restrict or allow aid to the Government of Ethiopia between 2021 and 2024, including a June 2023 determination made by the Administration that Ethiopia was no longer “engaging in a pattern of gross violations of human rights.” 

“Reporting indicates that abuses in the Amhara region are occurring at the same time as ongoing conflict in the Oromia region, where drone strikes have reportedly resulted in civilian casualties, and continued abuses in the Tigray region,” Congressman Crow said in the letter.

The letter continues: “In light of this reporting, I request an update regarding whether the Department’s assessment still holds that the Government of Ethiopia is not engaging in a pattern of gross human rights abuses.” The letter also inquires as to whether the Government of Ethiopia is allowing for international investigations into human rights violations to proceed unimpeded. 

This letter follows questions raised by Congressman Crow in a hearing of the Africa Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee last year, in which he asked the Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa and the Deputy Assistant Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Africa Bureau about challenges to accessing basic necessities in Tigray following the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement reached in 2022, as well as reports of civilian harm in Amhara, the impacts of the state of emergency, and the need for all Ethiopians to live in “security, dignity, and safety.” Crow has repeatedly called for the protection of civilians across Ethiopia, highlighted the need for assistance to reach those in need, and emphasized the importance of stability in Ethiopia to the region. Rep. Crow has also met with officials, including the former Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa and the former U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia, to reiterate these concerns. 

A PDF of the letter can be found here, with full text appearing below:  

December 23, 2024

Dear Secretary Blinken,

I write with concern regarding the human rights situation in Ethiopia and to inquire about the Department of State’s assessment regarding the Government of Ethiopia’s respect for human rights. I also request the Department’s assessment of the extent to which Ethiopia is allowing for an unimpeded international investigation of alleged human rights violations.

The State Department notified Congress in May 2021 that the United States would be restricting certain types of aid to Ethiopia consistent with Sec. 116 and 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 based on an apparent pattern of abuses committed in the context of the Tigray conflict. Subsequently, in March 2023, the Department announced its determination that members of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF), among other parties to the conflict, had committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In June 2023, however, the Department of the Treasury relayed to Congress the Administration’s determination that the Government of Ethiopia was no longer “engaging in a pattern of gross violations of human rights,” pursuant to Section 701 of the International Financial Institutions Act (22 USC 262d). This determination was based on an assessment by the Department of State and enabled the resumption of certain types of foreign assistance and engagement with Ethiopia, including through the International Monetary Fund.

This determination occurred in parallel with rising tensions in the Amhara region between the ENDF and an Amhara militia group known as the Fano. After these tensions escalated into active hostilities in mid-2023, the Ethiopian federal government issued a six-month state of emergency in August 2023. The state of emergency was subsequently extended and reportedly used to repress dissent, restrict freedoms, impose curfews, and arbitrarily detain and arrest individuals in Amhara and beyond. Reporting indicates the ongoing conflict resulted in numerous civilian casualties and the destruction of civilian infrastructure, including those resulting from drone strikes in residential areas and on vital facilities such as schools and hospitals.

Additional reporting indicates that abuses in the Amhara region are occurring at the same time as ongoing conflict in the Oromia region, where drone strikes have reportedly resulted in civilian casualties, and continued abuses in the Tigray region. Although monitoring of the human rights situation in these three regions, and across the country, is challenged by limited access provided to outside media and observers, reporting includes:

• June 2023: A rising trend of enforced disappearances, per the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC);
• September 2023: Extrajudicial killings by government security forces in Amhara and “widespread and arbitrary arrests” in Amhara, Oromia, and Addis Ababa, per the EHRC;
• October 2023: Extrajudicial executions and large-scale detention in the context of the Amhara conflict and what it described as “ongoing patterns by Government forces of arbitrary arrest and detention, and torture of civilians” in Oromia region, per the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE);
• February 2024: Ethiopian authorities implicated in extrajudicial killings, including in the Amhara town of Merawi in January 2024, per the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR);
• June 2024: Documentation of human rights violations in 2023, that attributed 70 percent to state actors, and implicated government security forces in most of the documented killings of civilians in Amhara, per the OHCHR;
• July 2024: Targeted attacks by government security forces on health workers and healthcare facilities in Amhara, per Human Rights Watch;
• August 2024: The United Nations Human Rights Committee’s concern over reports of “the continued prevalence of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,” its concern about reports of large-scale arbitrary detention, and its concern about reports of “harassment and attacks against, and arbitrary arrests and detentions of, journalists, human rights defenders, government critics and activists,” per the OHCHR;
• October 2024: Ongoing arbitrary detention of people in Amhara, per Amnesty International; and
• December 2024: Forced conscription, arbitrary detention and extortion, including of children, in Oromia per the EHRC.

In light of this reporting, I request an update regarding whether the Department’s assessment still holds that the Government of Ethiopia is not engaging in a pattern of gross human rights abuses. I also request that the Department identify what assistance may be affected if it is determined that the Government of Ethiopia is engaging in a pattern of gross human rights abuses. Further, I request the Department’s assessment of the extent to which the Government of Ethiopia is permitting an “unimpeded investigation of alleged violations of internationally recognized human rights by appropriate international organizations,” in accordance with 22 USC 262d.

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