"The text of the Eritrea resolution, which was initiated by Somalia
and Djibouti, was watered down after several countries - among them
the United States and China - objected to the tough language."
http://af.reuters.com/article/ethiopiaNews/idAFL8N19N431?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true
Eritrea escapes U.N. Security Council referral over human rights
Fri Jul 1, 2016 4:12pm GMT
By Tom Miles
GENEVA, July 1 (Reuters) - Eritrea may escape censure by the U.N.
Security Council over its human rights record after the U.N. Human
Rights Council passed a watered-down resolution against the African
state on Friday.
A U.N. investigation set up by the Human Rights Council said last
month that Eritrea's leaders should be tried for crimes against
humanity, including torture, rape, murder and enslaving hundreds of
thousands of people.
The investigators, who published a 484-page report a year ago
detailing the crimes and the country's use of a "vast security
network", recommended that the situation in the country to be referred
to the International Criminal Court.
But the resolution on Eritrea passed by the Human Rights Council on
Friday merely requested that the U.N. General Assembly in New York
submit the investigators' work to "relevant organs of the UN for
consideration and urgent action".
An earlier draft had said the General Assembly should involve the
Security Council to hold wrong-doers accountable via the "appropriate
international and/or regional criminal justice mechanism".
The council did "strongly encourage" the African Union to mount an
investigation and bring suspects to justice, but its treatment of
Eritrea is more conciliatory than its actions against North Korea,
subject of an earlier U.N. investigation.
The text of the Eritrea resolution, which was initiated by Somalia and
Djibouti, was watered down after several countries - among them the
United States and China - objected to the tough language.
At a drafting meeting earlier in the week, U.S. diplomat Eric
Richardson said the Eritrea report did not have "the same level of
sophistication and precision" as the report on North Korea and the
United States could not support the language of the text without
revisions.
Eritrea has rejected all the allegations in the U.N. investigators'
report. Ghebreab Yemane, an adviser to President Isaias Afwerki, told
the council the resolution was unfair, unjust and a deliberate U.S.
and European attempt to "ratchet up harassment of Eritrea."
"Its grave consequences will not be limited to Eritrea but will engulf
the entire region," he said. "This resolution will be used and abused
to fan the flames of war."
Eritrea and its neighbour Ethiopia have both accused the other of
sparking a border clash on June 12.
Yemane blamed Ethiopia for "some of the worst human rights abuses and
massacres of its people", saying it was ironic that Ethiopia could use
the council to lobby for the adoption of the resolution against
Eritrea. (Reporting by Tom Miles, editing by Larry King)
Received on Fri Jul 01 2016 - 12:18:40 EDT