Ogaden Peoples Rights Organisation delegates are currently taking part in the Seventeenth Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York. The theme of this year’s forum is on “Indigenous peoples’ collective rights to lands, territories and resources”.  On Item 10: Human rights. Dialogue with Victoria Tauli-Corpuz (Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples) , Andrew Gilmour (Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights) and Adama Dieng (UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide), OPRO engaged with the theme of Human rights in the Ogaden relating to the work of their respective offices. First, OPRO representative Juweria Ali welcomed Mr Gilmour’s commitment to addressing and preventing acts of intimidation and reprisals for cooperation with the United Nations in the field of Human Rights. She highlighted the severity of the reprisals faced within the Ogaden Community for Human Rights Advocates both in the Ogaden and beyond as the Ethiopian government has been successful in silencing indigenous people due to threat of retaliation, in addition to this; the entire region is entirely isolated with no access for international organisations or media.

Juweria further stressed Ethiopia’s characteristic avoidance of complying with requests by Special Rapporteurs such as the Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Issues to visit the country, despite the government having ratified international human rights treaties including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. As part of the dialogue within Item 10, OPRO directly asked the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights how his office could work towards bridging the gap between adoption and implementation. Moreover, the exchange with the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng brought to the forum’s attention the multiple genocidal warnings issued by Genocide Watch particularly in their writing to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Juweria drew Mr Adama Dieng’s attention to the warning signs of genocide in the Ogaden which have both progressed and developed and urged him to consider how his office can raise the profile of the region and how the on-going genocidal campaigns can be halted, and the victims protected.