Examining the Roles of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) in the Implementation of Peace Agreements: The Case of CoHA of Ethiopia

Abstract

Peace agreements and treaties end armed conflicts by bringing
parties to negotiate and stop hostilities. The Pretoria Agreement on
Cessation of Hostilities (CoHA) entered between the Ethiopian
Federal Government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front on 3
November 2022 at Pretoria, the Republic of South Africa ended the
Tigray war, creating a Joint Committee for monitoring compliance.
National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) like the Ethiopian
Human Rights Commission (EHRC) are increasingly vital in
overseeing peace agreement enforcement. This article highlights
NHRIs’ role in protecting human rights post-conflict and the
benefits of including them in implementation frameworks. It notes
challenges such as unclear operational guidelines for NHRIs at
various levels, which limits effectiveness. The article calls for
coordinated frameworks to strengthen the enforcement of CoHA in
Ethiopia, advocating for expanded mandates and institutional
reform of the EHRC. It suggests renegotiating CoHA’s
implementation architecture to formally integrate the EHRC after
vetting, enhancing institutional roles and promoting peace
agreement success.
Keywords: peace agreements, implementation mechanisms, human
rights, CoHA, human rights institutions, NHRIs, and Ethiopia.