The Ethiopian Human
Rights Commission says Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's government has designed
good governance programs aimed at respect and protection for human rights. Commissioner
Kassa Gebrehiwot reportedly said the commission has been striving to raise public
awareness about human rights through the use of the mass media.
He spoke Monday
in Addis Ababa during a seminar on the role of members of parliament in the
respect and protection of human rights.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's
government is denying allegations it committed human rights abuses against the
Anuaks in the Gambella region of western Ethiopia and ethic Somalis in the
Ogaden. In a letter, the organization "Genocide Watch" has asked the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to investigate the alleged crimes which
it said fit the definition of genocide.
Woindimu Asamnew, spokesman for the Ethiopian Embassy in
Washington told VOA his government considers the
allegations as lies.
"We
don't take seriously their allegations and fabrications. They are totally
unfounded, fabricated lies," he said.
In
his letter to the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Genocide Watch President Gregory
Stanton said Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and others in his government
were probably aware that they too could one day be brought before the
International Criminal Court
for crimes against humanity.
Asamnew
said the Ethiopian government does not take such comments seriously. He also
said there was no need for an independent outside investigation as was being
requested by Genocide Watch.
"We
don't take this kind of idea seriously. We have a parliament; they do take care
of these kinds of issues. There is no any need of inviting international body
for this purpose because of unfounded allegations. An outside investigation is
unnecessary and unacceptable," Asamnew said.
Genocide
Watch said the atrocities allegedly committed in Gambella against the Anuaks in
2005 fit the definitions of genocide and crimes against humanity. But Asamnew
said the allegations are false.
"We
have investigated the matter and taken corrective measures, otherwise this kind
of exaggerated and unfounded lies are not taken seriously by our government,"
he said.
He
also denied Genocide Watch's claims of a "culture of impunity" within the
Ethiopian government.
"What
I'm saying is that any individual can say whatever he wants, but alleging
something and the realities on the ground are totally different matter," Asamnew
said.