Questions by Lord Alton, Vice-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Eritrea in the UK Parliament and responses from the British Government
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, has provided the following answer to your written parliamentary question (HL12040):
Question:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of reports of a mass killing on 15 December 2020 at the Mariam of Zion church in Aksum, Ethiopia. (HL12040)
Tabled on: 12 January 2021
Answer:
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon:
We are shocked and saddened by further reports from Tigray of massacres of civilians, sexual violence, and attacks on humanitarian facilities and places of worship. An ongoing lack of access to the Tigray region for humanitarian agencies, means that it remains difficult to fully corroborate these reports, but we will continue to try to do so. We have however made clear our concerns with Ethiopian Ministers, and underlined the overriding need to protect civilians and adhere to international law and international human rights law. We continue to call for independent, international, investigations into allegations of human right abuses and violations, and that the perpetrators of those incidents that are proven are held to account, whoever they may be. The UK continues to call for sustained, free and unfettered humanitarian access across Tigray
Date and time of answer: 25 Jan 2021 at 12:17.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, has provided the following answer to your written parliamentary question (HL11957):
Question:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to end the forced repatriation of refugees to Eritrea from refugee camps in Tigray; and what assessment they have made of (1) reports of armed attacks on those refugee camps; and (2) of the humanitarian needs of the refugees in those camps. (HL11957)
Tabled on: 11 January 2021
Answer:
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon:
We are concerned at reports that Eritrean troops have entered Ethiopian refugee camps in Tigray and forced a number of refugees to return to Eritrea. Due to the lack of access to northern refugee camps in Tigray for humanitarian agencies, including the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), it has not yet been possible to fully corroborate these reports. We have however, raised our concerns with Ministers in both governments, making clear the overriding need to protect civilians and adhere to international law and international human rights law. We continue to call for independent, international, investigations into allegations of human right abuses and violations, and that the perpetrators of those incidents that are proven are held to account, whoever they may be.
The UK continues to call for sustained, free and unfettered humanitarian access across Tigray, so that the UNHCR can uphold its mandate towards refugees. It is the responsibility of the host state to ensure refugees are protected and are not subjected to forcible return.
Date and time of answer: 25 Jan 2021 at 12:18.
MA L’ONU SI VUOLE MUOVERE, STA ACCADENDO LA SHIOA’,OLOCAUSTO, MASSACRI ETNICI,DIPLOMATICI ONU FATE SENTIRE LA VOCE TIRATE FUORI GLI ATTRIBUTI, O ASPETTIAMO LA BALCANIZZAZIONE,COME IN BURUNDI,TUTTO CIÒ STA GIÀ ACCADENDO
Britons, we the rest of #ethiopians - marginalized for over two hundered years - appriciate your humanterian life saving of our #ethiopian brothers - the #tigrepeople. We should have showed our suport of your actions by at least a public demonstration, but alas we can’t. We are under never seen babaric gun point rule. They will not hesitate to vaporize all of us in minute!
We thank you, the #eu , #usa and all the humanterian communities saving the lives of our brothers from the bottom of our hearts.
We beleive this is a matter for the UN SECURITY CONCIL and merites a physical intervention as quick as possible. You are doing good but we can not be by- standers any more as people are dying every minute!
Thank you very much again!
The interventions into the affairs of others is a white prerogative.
Iraq
Iran
Afghanistan
Libya
Syria
Nicaragua
Vietnsm
Korea
I intend to become leader of a lunatic militoa called the BLACK PEOPLE LIBERATION FRONT to demand a piece of England for us.
How long do you think we would last?