EHRC–OHCHR Tigray investigation

[2] The OHCHR stated that the investigation would cover "human rights violations and abuses allegedly committed by all parties in the context of the Tigray conflict".

[3][15] Sonny Onyegbul, one of the OHCHR human rights staff working on the investigation, was deported from Ethiopia along with six other UN officials in October 2021, for what the federal authorities described as "meddling in internal affairs".

[18] The initial phase, scheduled from 16 May to 20 August, was extended in September, with 1 November 2021 announced as the new release date of the joint commission's report.

[5] As summarised by Human Rights Watch (HRW), the report recommends that a full-scale international investigation be carried out in order to "identif[y] the pattern and scale of abuses, and those responsible for the worst crimes up to the present".

[20] The governments of Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States released a joint statement in which they expressed: Notwithstanding the considerable challenges faced in gaining access to places, people and documentation, we commend OHCHR and EHRC for their impartial and transparent work.

"[23] HRW says that the report gives too little attention to "well-documented trends", only briefly mentions the "abuses committed by Amhara regional forces and militia against Tigrayans in western Tigray", "fails to acknowledge the scale of abuses, including sexual slavery, by Ethiopian, Eritrean, and Amhara forces targeting Tigrayan women and girls", and "glosses over the deliberate and extensive destruction and pillaging of health infrastructure, and the intimidation and killing of humanitarian workers.

He argued that there was a structural bias, with Tigrayans de facto excluded from the House of Peoples' Representatives, to which the EHRC is legally accountable.

One of the civilian victims of the Togoga airstrike [ 1 ]
One of the numerous mass graves of civilian victims in Tigray, massacred by ENDF and allied forces, that the joint commission will need to investigate [ 17 ]
Occurrence of massacres in the Tigray War up to 16 November 2021 (red dots), with sites visited by the joint EHRC–OHCHR investigation (blue checkmarks). [ 22 ]