Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights into alleged violations of human rights in Tigray, published on 3 November; what implications the findings will have on the UK’s Overseas Development Assistance funding to Ethiopia; and what steps they will take, if any, to support (1) internally displaced persons, and (2) refugees.

The UK strongly supported a resolution at the June session of the Human Rights Council backing that investigation and ensuring that its report and its findings will be debated by the Human Rights Council.

The report by the joint UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights and Ethiopian Human Rights Commission investigation, published on 3 November, concludes that "There are reasonable grounds to believe that all parties to the conflict have violated the rights of refugees as stipulated under international human rights law, humanitarian law, refugee law, and national laws. Such acts warrant further investigation and may amount to war crimes". It is essential that all those responsible for violations of human rights, refugee and international humanitarian law are held to account.

The UK is a major humanitarian and development donor to Ethiopia with Ethiopia one of the largest recipients of UK Overseas Development Assistance. We keep this relationship under review and will take action to adjust our engagement as necessary as the operating context changes.

Within Tigray approximately 2 million people have been displaced by the ongoing violence with Eritrean refugees also impacted and in some cases directly targeted by belligerents. Humanitarian operations in Tigray have come to a standstill owing to the de facto blockade imposed by the federal government since late June. Prior to the blockade UK funded partners were working in the most challenging circumstances to provide life-saving assistance to displaced persons, refugees and others.