“These sanctions authorities are not directed at the people of Ethiopia or Eritrea,” a White House official said in September during a call with reporters. President Joe Biden’s administration has emphasized the goal of targeted sanctions is to ensure perpetrators are held to account. Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said that “the praiseworthy design of the sanctions regime avoids typical pitfalls.” She said that implemented sanctions are meant to give “legal exceptions for humanitarian relief delivery.”

Other analysts point to the effectiveness of earlier sanctions. sanctions on Ethiopian and Eritrean officials, including Omna Tigray, a nonprofit group consisting of Tigrayans residing in the diaspora who see the move as a way to protect the lives of civilians caught in the conflict. Others in the Tigrayan diaspora have, however, supported the bill and previous U.S. Rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, say ethnic Tigrayans have been targeted since the start of the conflict in November 2020, citing reports of forced disappearances and arbitrary arrests among other human rights violations.įILE - A group from the Tigrayan diaspora in North America protest about the conflict in Ethiopia, near the State Department, on Dec. One of the issues of ongoing concern to Congress is also the mass detention of Tigrayan civilians in several cities across Ethiopia, including the capital, Addis Ababa. The bill follows September sanctions and the November decision to suspend Ethiopia from the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which allows African countries’ exports duty-free access to the U.S. “Today, Congress is coming together to say that the conflict must end, and to hold accountable all those responsible for perpetuating it.” “The war in Ethiopia has created one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, and all the combatants, along with their foreign backers, are responsible for horrific abuses of basic human rights,” he said. to oppose loans by international agencies such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to Ethiopia and Eritrea.Ĭongressman Tom Malinowski, a Democrat from New Jersey who co-sponsored the bill, said urgent action is needed. security and financial assistance to the Ethiopian government until certain human rights conditions are met. If enacted, the bill would sanction individuals as well as suspend U.S. A similar bill is being considered in the Senate. The proposed Ethiopian Stabilization, Peace and Democracy Act was voted out of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday. It would also sanction those providing training, weapons, or financial support to those involved in the conflict. House of Representatives to impose sanctions on Ethiopians committing human rights abuses, blocking food aid delivery, or taking other actions that are worsening the country’s 15-month crisis.

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