Universal Periodic Review of Ethiopia
14 May 2019
Intervention by the delegation of Estonia
Mr. President,
Estonia welcomes the delegation of Ethiopia to its third UPR. We thank Ethiopia for the report presented and for the additional information.
We commend Ethiopia for the recent economic and political reforms and for the progress on freedom of expression, freedom of media, dialogue with civil society and for the release of political prisoners. We would like to encourage Ethiopia to continue on this path while also carrying out a successful judicial reform in order to increase the investigation capacity and to improve victims’ access to justice and accountability for human rights violations.
Estonia also highlights the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on the involvement of children in armed conflict (also recommended by Estonia during last UPR).
Estonia recommends to Ethiopia:
– to continue with the efforts to combat gender based violence and to eliminate female genital mutilation.
– to ratify international human rights instruments such as the optional protocols of International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
– to accede to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and fully align its national legislation with the Rome Statute.
We wish the delegation of Ethiopia successful review meeting.
Thank you!