CAT/C/ETH/CO/1
warrant and the lack of judicial oversight on the legality of detention can facilitate torture
and ill-treatment (arts. 2 and 11).
The State party should take effective steps to investigate promptly and
impartially all allegations of involvement of members of security forces and
ENDF in extrajudicial killings and other serious human rights violations in
different parts of the country, in particular in the Somali, Oromiya and
Gambella Regional States.
The State party should take all necessary measures to counter enforced
disappearances and the practice of mass arrest without a warrant and
arbitrary detention without charges and judicial process. The State party
should take all appropriate steps to ensure the application of relevant
legislation, to reduce further the duration of detention before charges are
brought. The State party is requested to provide detailed information on any
investigations, and on their outcome, into reported cases of disappearances.
Rape and other forms of sexual violence in the context of armed conflict
16.
The Committee is concerned about reports of rape and other forms of sexual
violence against women and girls allegedly committed by members of the security forces
and ENDF in the context of armed conflict, in particular in the Somali Regional State (arts.
2, 12, 13 and 14).
The Committee calls on the State party to investigate, prosecute and punish
members of the security forces and ENDF responsible for rape and other forms
of sexual violence in the context of armed conflict. The State party should take
immediate steps to adequately compensate and rehabilitate the victims of such
violence.
Investigations
17.
Notwithstanding the explanations provided by the State party during the dialogue,
the Committee continues to be concerned at numerous and consistent reports about:
(a)
The lack of a full investigation of the arrest of 3,000 students at Addis Ababa
University in April 2001, many of whom were reportedly ill-treated at the Sendafa police
camp;
(b)
The prosecution and sentencing of only a small number of low-ranking army
officials involved in the killings and torture, including rape, of hundreds of Anuak in
Gambella town in December 2003 and the State party’s failure to investigate the subsequent
killings, torture and rape of Anuak in the Gambella Regional State in 2004;
(c)
The absence of an independent and impartial investigation of, and the lack of
prosecutions and sentences for, the use of lethal force by members of the security forces
during the post-election riots in 2005, when 193 civilians and 6 police officers were killed;
and
(d)
The lack of an independent and impartial investigation into the extrajudicial
killings, torture, including rape, other forms of sexual violence, as well as arbitrary arrests
by ENDF during its counter-insurgency campaign against ONLF in the Somali Regional
State in 2007 (art. 12 and 14).
The State party should urgently institute independent and impartial
investigations of the above incidents in order to bring the perpetrators of
violations of the Convention to justice. The Committee recommends that such
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