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To acknowledge and support the peace efforts to stop human rights abuses in Ethiopia and encourages Congress to pass the Ethiopia Peace and Stabilization Act of 2022
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WHEREAS, Columbus City Council calls on the Government of Ethiopia, the Regional Government of Tigray, and others in the conflict in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia to cease all hostilities and protect human rights; and
WHEREAS, on November 4, 2020, after months of tensions between Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the leaders of Tigray, Ethiopia’s northernmost region, war broke out when the federal government ordered a military offensive into Tigray; and
WHEREAS, the ongoing war has devastated communities in Ethiopia, particularly the Tigray region; and
WHEREAS, this conflict has resulted in physical and sexual violence, famine, ethnic cleansing, mass arrests and the displacement of approximately 2 million Tigrayans; and
WHEREAS, a joint report between Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch as well as a joint report between the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission have all documented the ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Tigrayans; and
WHEREAS, on June 10, 2021, the then-United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator issued a report declaring 350,000 people in Tigray were living in man-made “famine conditions”; and
WHEREAS, a Ghent University research team estimated that up to 500,000 people in Tigray may have died due to government-imposed restrictions on food and medicine; and
WHEREAS, a bipartisan group of legislators, including US Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Representative Michael McCaul, ranking member of the House Foreign Relations Committee, have labeled the actions taken against Tigrayans as “genocide”; and
WHEREAS, the City of Columbus supports the passage of HR 6600 (The Ethiopia Stabilization, Peace, and Democracy Act) and S3199 (The Ethiopia Peace and Stabilization Act of 2022), two bipartisan bills introduced in the House of Representatives and Senate that seek to bring about a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Ethiopia; and
WHEREAS, Columbus City Council condemns all violence and violations of international humanitarian law and calls for a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Ethiopia, including the restoration of human aid and basic human services to the Tigrayan community; and
WHEREAS, the City of Columbus represents and welcomes all residents regardless of national origin and is committed to making Columbus a city that provides opportunity for all, especially those fleeing violence abroad; and
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
To acknowledge and support the peace efforts to stop human rights abuses in Ethiopia and encourages Congress to pass the Ethiopia Peace and Stabilization Act of 2022.