African Commission must act on Ethiopia, Eritrea and Gambia

ESAT News (October 21, 2106)

The African Commission on Human and People’s’ Rights must act to curtail rapidly escalating human rights crises in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Gambia, Amnesty International said on Friday at the start of the 59th Ordinary Session of the African Commission.

“The crackdown on protesters which has claimed hundreds of lives in Ethiopia is a live example of how failure to effectively address a sustained and consistent pattern of human rights violations can degenerate into a crisis,” said Netsanet Belay, Africa Director for Research and Advocacy at Amnesty International.

“Amnesty International is calling on the African Commission to make full use of its mandate, including its duty to bring the existence of ‘a series of serious or massive violations of human rights’ to the attention of the AU Assembly and develop effective follow-up mechanisms to ensure the implementation of its recommendations by member states,” the rights organization said in a release on Friday.