Public meeting organized by Andenet DC Metro Support Chapter
Saterday Jan 31 2009 - 2:00pm
Marriott Washington1221 22nd Street NW
Washington. DC 20037
http://www.kinijitethiopia.org/docs/UDJ/event/jan31_meeting.pdf
Friday, January 30, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Ethiopia ranks 126 in 2008 World Corruption table by Transperncy International
According to Transparency International, Ethiopia is still classified as one of the most corrupt states in the world, as close circle of people in power are looting the nation. The anti-corruption commission itself has proved to be the most corrupt organ of Meles Zenawi’s regime. It is very difficult to abandon corruption so long as Meles Zenawi himself is benefiting from it. The Prime Minister’s wife, Azeb Mesfin, is an ambitious businesswoman, who has long been the head of the multi-million dollar business empire, Mega Corporation, which earned her the nickname “Queen of Mega.” One of the serious complaints of businessmen that have been ignored by the ruling party is the crippling effect of TPLF-backed business enterprises like Mega. Independent businessmen have long been alleging that they could not compete freely as the favoured companies and corporations that are connected to the ruling party, have unfairly monopolized many sectors owing to their links with the top brasses of the TPLF. Only the likes of Seye Abraha who challenged the PM were accused of corruption and ended up in jails, but the impropriety of mingling public, private and party-owned businesses remains a contentious issues.
Among the largest TPLF companies are Wegagen Bank, Guna Trading, Almedia Textiles and Garment, Africa Insurance, Beruh Chemical, Express Transit, Hiwot Agricultural, Mega-Net, Mesebo Building, Sheba Tannery, Meskerem Investment, Mesfin Industrial, Sur Construction, and Trans-Ethiopia. ENDEAVOR, as a junior partner, has more modest holdings which include Dashen Brewery, Zeleke Agricultural, and Blue Nile transport. The other EPRDF member fronts are in the early stages of mastering the get-rich-quick scheme.
To end up corruptions and sufferings of our nation, people must join hand and fight the root cause of these miseries which is the Meles Zenawi regime. Two decades in power, Meles is the same.
Related documents:
1. The 'Queen of Mega' in Parliament. http://www.kinijit.org/content_JIL.asp?amonth=2007&ContentType=News&contentid=2212
2. 2008 world corruption table by Transperncy International. http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2008
3. The Ominous Clouds of Woyanne/EPRDF’s Business Empire.http://tegbar.org/?p=52
4. The book and the corruption. http://ethioforum.org/wp/archives/783
5. The Link between ethno-centric minority rule and corruption; the case of Ethiopiahttp://ethioforum.org/wp/archives/588
Among the largest TPLF companies are Wegagen Bank, Guna Trading, Almedia Textiles and Garment, Africa Insurance, Beruh Chemical, Express Transit, Hiwot Agricultural, Mega-Net, Mesebo Building, Sheba Tannery, Meskerem Investment, Mesfin Industrial, Sur Construction, and Trans-Ethiopia. ENDEAVOR, as a junior partner, has more modest holdings which include Dashen Brewery, Zeleke Agricultural, and Blue Nile transport. The other EPRDF member fronts are in the early stages of mastering the get-rich-quick scheme.
To end up corruptions and sufferings of our nation, people must join hand and fight the root cause of these miseries which is the Meles Zenawi regime. Two decades in power, Meles is the same.
Related documents:
1. The 'Queen of Mega' in Parliament. http://www.kinijit.org/content_JIL.asp?amonth=2007&ContentType=News&contentid=2212
2. 2008 world corruption table by Transperncy International. http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2008
3. The Ominous Clouds of Woyanne/EPRDF’s Business Empire.http://tegbar.org/?p=52
4. The book and the corruption. http://ethioforum.org/wp/archives/783
5. The Link between ethno-centric minority rule and corruption; the case of Ethiopiahttp://ethioforum.org/wp/archives/588
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Human Rights Watch Report 2008 Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Events of 2008
Downloadable Resources:
World Report Chapter: Ethiopia (PDF)
Ethiopia
The Ethiopian government's human rights record remains poor, marked by an ever-hardening intolerance towards meaningful political dissent or independent criticism. Ethiopian military forces have continued to commit war crimes and other serious abuses with impunity in the course of counterinsurgency campaigns in Ethiopia's eastern Somali Region and in neighboring Somalia.
Local-level elections in April 2008 provided a stark illustration of the extent to which the government has successfully crippled organized opposition of any kind-the ruling party and its affiliates won more than 99 percent of all constituencies, and the vast majority of seats were uncontested. In 2008 the government launched a direct assault on civil society by introducing legislation that would criminalize most independent human rights work and subject NGOs to pervasive interference and control.
Political Repression
The limited opening of political space that preceded Ethiopia's 2005 elections has been entirely reversed. Government opponents and ordinary citizens alike face repression that discourages and punishes free expression and political activity. Ethiopian government officials regularly subject government critics or perceived opponents to harassment, arrest, and even torture, often reflexively accusing them of membership in "anti-peace" or "anti-people" organizations. Farmers who criticize local leaders face threats of losing vital agricultural inputs such as fertilizer or the selective enforcement of debts owed to the state. The net result is that in most of Ethiopia, and especially in the rural areas where the overwhelming majority of the population lives, there is no organized opposition to the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).
The local-level elections in April 2008 were for kebele and wereda administrations, which provide essential government services and humanitarian assistance, and are often the institutions used to directly implement repressive government policies. In the vast majority of constituencies there were no opposition candidates at all, and candidates aligned with the EPRDF won more than 99 percent of all available seats.
Where opposition candidates did contest they faced abuse and improper procedural obstacles to registration. Candidates in Ethiopia's Oromia region were detained, threatened with violence by local officials, and accused of affiliation to the rebel Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). Oromia, Ethiopia's most populous region, has long suffered from heavy-handed government repression, with students, activists, or critics of rural administrations regularly accused of being OLF operatives. Such allegations often lead to arbitrary imprisonment and torture.
War Crimes and Other Abuses by Ethiopian Military Forces
Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) personnel stationed in Mogadishu continued in 2008 to use mortars, artillery, and "Katyusha" rockets indiscriminately in response to insurgent attacks, devastating entire neighborhoods of the city. Insurgent attacks often originate in populated areas, prompting Ethiopian bombardment of civilian homes and public spaces, sometimes wiping out entire families. Many of these attacks constitute war crimes. In July ENDF forces bombarded part of the strategic town of Beletweyne after coming under attack by insurgent forces based there, displacing as many as 75,000 people.
2008 was also marked by the proliferation of other violations of the laws of war by ENDF personnel in Somalia. Until late 2007, Ethiopian forces were reportedly reasonably disciplined and restrained in their day-to-day interactions with Somali civilians in Mogadishu. However, throughout 2008 ENDF forces in Mogadishu participated in widespread acts of murder, rape, assault, and looting targeting ordinary residents of the city, often alongside forces allied to the Somali Transitional Federal Government. In an April raid on a Mogadishu mosque ENDF soldiers reportedly killed 21 people; seven of the dead had their throats cut.
ENDF forces have also increasingly fired indiscriminately on crowds of civilians when they come under attack. In August ENDF soldiers were hit by a roadside bomb near the town of Afgooye and responded by firing wildly; in the resulting bloodbath as many as 60 civilians were shot and killed, including the passengers of two crowded minibuses.
In Ethiopia itself, the ENDF continues to wage a counterinsurgency campaign against the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) in the country's restive Somali region. The scale and intensity of military operations seems to have declined from a peak in mid-2007, but arbitrary detentions, torture, and other abuses continue. Credible reports indicate that vital food aid to the drought-affected region has been diverted and misused as a weapon to starve out rebel-held areas. The military continues to severely restrict access to conflict-affected regions and the Ethiopian government has not reversed its decision to evict the International Committee of the Red Cross from the region in July 2007.
The Ethiopian government denies all allegations of abuses by its military and refuses to facilitate independent investigations. There have been no serious efforts to investigate or ensure accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Somali Region and in neighboring Somalia in 2007 and 2008. Nor have ENDF officers or civilian officials been held accountable for crimes against humanity that ENDF forces carried out against ethnic Anuak communities during a counterinsurgency campaign in Gambella region in late 2003 and 2004.
Regional Renditions
In early 2007 at least 90 men, women, and children from 18 different countries fleeing conflict in Somalia were arrested in Kenya and subsequently deported to Somalia and then Ethiopia, where many were interrogated by US intelligence agents. An unknown number of people arrested by Ethiopian forces in Somalia were also directly transferred to Ethiopia. Many of the victims of these "regional renditions" were released in mid-2007 and early 2008, but at least two men, including a Kenyan and a Canadian national, remain in Ethiopian detention almost two years after their deportation from Kenya. The whereabouts and fate of at least 22 others rendered to Ethiopia, including Eritreans, Somalis, and Ethiopian Ogadeni and Oromo, is unknown.
Civil Society and Free Expression
The environment for civil society continues to deteriorate. In 2008 the government announced new legislation-the Charities and Societies Proclamation-which purports to provide greater oversight and transparency on civil society activities. In fact, the law would undermine the independence of civil society and criminalizes the work of many human rights organizations. At this writing, the law looked set to be introduced to parliament.
Alongside a complex and onerous system of government surveillance and control, the law would place sharp restrictions on the kinds of work permissible to foreign organizations and Ethiopian civil society groups that receive some foreign funding-barring such organizations from any kind of work touching on human rights issues. Individuals who fail to comply with the law's Byzantine provisions could face criminal prosecution.
A new media law passed in July promises to reform some of the most repressive aspects of the previous legal framework. Most notably, the law eliminates the practice of pretrial detention for journalists-although in August, the prominent editor of the Addis Ababa-based Reporter newspaper was imprisoned without charge for several days in connection with a story printed in the paper. In spite of its positive aspects, the law remains flawed-it grants the government significant leeway to restrain free speech, including by summarily impounding publications on grounds of national security or public order. The law also retains criminal penalties including prison terms for journalists found guilty of libel or defamation.
In March 2008 civil society activists Daniel Bekele and Netsanet Demissie were released from more than two years of incarceration, but only after the Ethiopian Federal High Court convicted them of "incitement" related to the 2005 elections.
Key International Actors
The United States and European donor states provide the Ethiopian government with large sums of bilateral assistance, including direct budgetary support from the United Kingdom and military assistance from the US. The US is Ethiopia's largest bilateral donor and has also provided logistical and political support for Ethiopia's protracted intervention in Somalia, and provides bilateral assistance to the Ethiopian military. Donor governments view Ethiopia as an important ally in an unstable region and, in the case of the US, in the "global war on terror."
The US, UK, and other key donors and political allies have consistently refused to publicly criticize widespread abuses or to demand meaningful improvements in Ethiopia's human rights record. The sole exception in 2008 lay in donor government efforts to lobby against the repressive civil society legislation introduced by the government. No major donor made any significant effort to raise serious concerns about or demand a concrete response to war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ethiopia or ENDF atrocities in Somalia.
Ethiopia remains deadlocked over a boundary dispute with Eritrea dating from the two countries' 1998-2000 war. The war in Somalia is another source of tension between the two countries, with Eritrea backing and hosting one faction of the insurgency Ethiopian troops are fighting against in Somalia. Eritrea also plays host to other Ethiopian rebel movements, notably the OLF and ONLF, with the aim of destabilizing the Ethiopian government.
China's importance as a trading partner to Ethiopia grows year by year. According to official figures Chinese investment in Ethiopia totals more than US$350 million annually, up from just $10 million in 2003.
Ethiopia is due to be reviewed under the Universal Periodic Review mechanism of the UN Human Rights Council in December 2009.
Events of 2008
Downloadable Resources:
World Report Chapter: Ethiopia (PDF)
Ethiopia
The Ethiopian government's human rights record remains poor, marked by an ever-hardening intolerance towards meaningful political dissent or independent criticism. Ethiopian military forces have continued to commit war crimes and other serious abuses with impunity in the course of counterinsurgency campaigns in Ethiopia's eastern Somali Region and in neighboring Somalia.
Local-level elections in April 2008 provided a stark illustration of the extent to which the government has successfully crippled organized opposition of any kind-the ruling party and its affiliates won more than 99 percent of all constituencies, and the vast majority of seats were uncontested. In 2008 the government launched a direct assault on civil society by introducing legislation that would criminalize most independent human rights work and subject NGOs to pervasive interference and control.
Political Repression
The limited opening of political space that preceded Ethiopia's 2005 elections has been entirely reversed. Government opponents and ordinary citizens alike face repression that discourages and punishes free expression and political activity. Ethiopian government officials regularly subject government critics or perceived opponents to harassment, arrest, and even torture, often reflexively accusing them of membership in "anti-peace" or "anti-people" organizations. Farmers who criticize local leaders face threats of losing vital agricultural inputs such as fertilizer or the selective enforcement of debts owed to the state. The net result is that in most of Ethiopia, and especially in the rural areas where the overwhelming majority of the population lives, there is no organized opposition to the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).
The local-level elections in April 2008 were for kebele and wereda administrations, which provide essential government services and humanitarian assistance, and are often the institutions used to directly implement repressive government policies. In the vast majority of constituencies there were no opposition candidates at all, and candidates aligned with the EPRDF won more than 99 percent of all available seats.
Where opposition candidates did contest they faced abuse and improper procedural obstacles to registration. Candidates in Ethiopia's Oromia region were detained, threatened with violence by local officials, and accused of affiliation to the rebel Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). Oromia, Ethiopia's most populous region, has long suffered from heavy-handed government repression, with students, activists, or critics of rural administrations regularly accused of being OLF operatives. Such allegations often lead to arbitrary imprisonment and torture.
War Crimes and Other Abuses by Ethiopian Military Forces
Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) personnel stationed in Mogadishu continued in 2008 to use mortars, artillery, and "Katyusha" rockets indiscriminately in response to insurgent attacks, devastating entire neighborhoods of the city. Insurgent attacks often originate in populated areas, prompting Ethiopian bombardment of civilian homes and public spaces, sometimes wiping out entire families. Many of these attacks constitute war crimes. In July ENDF forces bombarded part of the strategic town of Beletweyne after coming under attack by insurgent forces based there, displacing as many as 75,000 people.
2008 was also marked by the proliferation of other violations of the laws of war by ENDF personnel in Somalia. Until late 2007, Ethiopian forces were reportedly reasonably disciplined and restrained in their day-to-day interactions with Somali civilians in Mogadishu. However, throughout 2008 ENDF forces in Mogadishu participated in widespread acts of murder, rape, assault, and looting targeting ordinary residents of the city, often alongside forces allied to the Somali Transitional Federal Government. In an April raid on a Mogadishu mosque ENDF soldiers reportedly killed 21 people; seven of the dead had their throats cut.
ENDF forces have also increasingly fired indiscriminately on crowds of civilians when they come under attack. In August ENDF soldiers were hit by a roadside bomb near the town of Afgooye and responded by firing wildly; in the resulting bloodbath as many as 60 civilians were shot and killed, including the passengers of two crowded minibuses.
In Ethiopia itself, the ENDF continues to wage a counterinsurgency campaign against the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) in the country's restive Somali region. The scale and intensity of military operations seems to have declined from a peak in mid-2007, but arbitrary detentions, torture, and other abuses continue. Credible reports indicate that vital food aid to the drought-affected region has been diverted and misused as a weapon to starve out rebel-held areas. The military continues to severely restrict access to conflict-affected regions and the Ethiopian government has not reversed its decision to evict the International Committee of the Red Cross from the region in July 2007.
The Ethiopian government denies all allegations of abuses by its military and refuses to facilitate independent investigations. There have been no serious efforts to investigate or ensure accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Somali Region and in neighboring Somalia in 2007 and 2008. Nor have ENDF officers or civilian officials been held accountable for crimes against humanity that ENDF forces carried out against ethnic Anuak communities during a counterinsurgency campaign in Gambella region in late 2003 and 2004.
Regional Renditions
In early 2007 at least 90 men, women, and children from 18 different countries fleeing conflict in Somalia were arrested in Kenya and subsequently deported to Somalia and then Ethiopia, where many were interrogated by US intelligence agents. An unknown number of people arrested by Ethiopian forces in Somalia were also directly transferred to Ethiopia. Many of the victims of these "regional renditions" were released in mid-2007 and early 2008, but at least two men, including a Kenyan and a Canadian national, remain in Ethiopian detention almost two years after their deportation from Kenya. The whereabouts and fate of at least 22 others rendered to Ethiopia, including Eritreans, Somalis, and Ethiopian Ogadeni and Oromo, is unknown.
Civil Society and Free Expression
The environment for civil society continues to deteriorate. In 2008 the government announced new legislation-the Charities and Societies Proclamation-which purports to provide greater oversight and transparency on civil society activities. In fact, the law would undermine the independence of civil society and criminalizes the work of many human rights organizations. At this writing, the law looked set to be introduced to parliament.
Alongside a complex and onerous system of government surveillance and control, the law would place sharp restrictions on the kinds of work permissible to foreign organizations and Ethiopian civil society groups that receive some foreign funding-barring such organizations from any kind of work touching on human rights issues. Individuals who fail to comply with the law's Byzantine provisions could face criminal prosecution.
A new media law passed in July promises to reform some of the most repressive aspects of the previous legal framework. Most notably, the law eliminates the practice of pretrial detention for journalists-although in August, the prominent editor of the Addis Ababa-based Reporter newspaper was imprisoned without charge for several days in connection with a story printed in the paper. In spite of its positive aspects, the law remains flawed-it grants the government significant leeway to restrain free speech, including by summarily impounding publications on grounds of national security or public order. The law also retains criminal penalties including prison terms for journalists found guilty of libel or defamation.
In March 2008 civil society activists Daniel Bekele and Netsanet Demissie were released from more than two years of incarceration, but only after the Ethiopian Federal High Court convicted them of "incitement" related to the 2005 elections.
Key International Actors
The United States and European donor states provide the Ethiopian government with large sums of bilateral assistance, including direct budgetary support from the United Kingdom and military assistance from the US. The US is Ethiopia's largest bilateral donor and has also provided logistical and political support for Ethiopia's protracted intervention in Somalia, and provides bilateral assistance to the Ethiopian military. Donor governments view Ethiopia as an important ally in an unstable region and, in the case of the US, in the "global war on terror."
The US, UK, and other key donors and political allies have consistently refused to publicly criticize widespread abuses or to demand meaningful improvements in Ethiopia's human rights record. The sole exception in 2008 lay in donor government efforts to lobby against the repressive civil society legislation introduced by the government. No major donor made any significant effort to raise serious concerns about or demand a concrete response to war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ethiopia or ENDF atrocities in Somalia.
Ethiopia remains deadlocked over a boundary dispute with Eritrea dating from the two countries' 1998-2000 war. The war in Somalia is another source of tension between the two countries, with Eritrea backing and hosting one faction of the insurgency Ethiopian troops are fighting against in Somalia. Eritrea also plays host to other Ethiopian rebel movements, notably the OLF and ONLF, with the aim of destabilizing the Ethiopian government.
China's importance as a trading partner to Ethiopia grows year by year. According to official figures Chinese investment in Ethiopia totals more than US$350 million annually, up from just $10 million in 2003.
Ethiopia is due to be reviewed under the Universal Periodic Review mechanism of the UN Human Rights Council in December 2009.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Ethiopia: freedom of association in jeopardy
Paris-Geneva, January 9, 2009. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), denounces the adoption on January 6, 2008 of a law that considerably restricts the activities of NGOs in Ethiopia.
window.
This new Law on Charities and Societies amends the Ethiopian Civil Code. It extends the definition of "foreign NGOs" - now governed by a more restrictive status - to almost all Ethiopian NGOs. This will result in muzzling the activities of the Ethiopian civil society organisations. The new piece of legislation also provides for the creation of an administrative body - the "Charities and Societies Agency" - iin charge of issues relating to the registration, functioning and dissolution of NGOs. The extensive powers given to this new agency will clearly pose a further impediment to freedom of association in the country.
Extension of the definition of "foreign NGOs" and interference in the activities of such rganisations:
The NGO law extends the definition of "foreign NGO". So far, an NGO created by Ethiopian nationals and in accordance with Ethiopian law was considered an Ethiopian NGO, regardless of its activities or sources of funding. The new law provides on the contrary that any organisation receiving more than 10% of foreign funding shall be labelled as a "foreign NGO".
This amendment is all the more worrying that another provision of the Charities and Societies law bans such "foreign NGOs" from carrying out activities in the fields of women and children’s' rights, disabled persons, ethnic issues, and conflict settlement and resolution. The implementation of the new law will therefore muzzle the Ethiopian civil society in key fields related to the promotion and protection of human rights, in a country where 95% of Ethiopian NGOs currently receive more than 10% of foreign funding.
If the issue of funding is used as a tool for restriction, some other provisions governing the functioning of "foreign NGOs" are also particularly repressive. Some provide that the Charities and Societies Agency to be set up will be able to appoint and remove executive members sitting with such organisations. Others relate to the allocation of budget and state that the executive members of "foreign NGOs" allocating more than 30% of their budget to administrative expenses shall be subjected to fines or imprisonment.
"This new law announces a severe crackdown on Ethiopian civil society. The authorities seem to have forecast everything that could be done to restrict the activities of NGOs, further harass their executive members and strike down their organisations This piece of legislation is absolutely contrary to international human rights standards, and this breaches in particular the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders", said Souhayr Belhassen, FIDH President.
Registration and dissolution submitted to arbitrary decisions
The law also provides setbacks in the fields of registration and dissolution. So far registration was granted following the issue of an authorisation by the Ministry of Justice. In case of refusal, the applicant organisation had the possibility to appeal this decision before a court. With the new legislation, any application for the registration of a "foreign NGO" shall be submitted to the Charities and Societies Agency, and any refusal of registration will only be appealed before the board of this agency. A second refusal by this body shall be a final decision. The agency will also have exclusive competence with regard to dissolution of so-called "foreign NGOs". The possibilities of appeal will be the same as these applied to registration.
"I am deeply concerned with the extension of the powers granted to the Ethiopian administration, which results in the sidelining of the competence of the judiciary for two essential steps in the life of an association. Freedom to associate has been one of the pillars of the defence of human rights in the world. With this new law, there are strong reasons to believe that most human rights defenders' activities will now be made impossible", denounced Eric Sottas, OMCT Secretary General.
The Observatory recalls that human rights defenders in Ethiopia have been subjected to ongoing acts of harassment in the pass (See Annual Report 2007 of the Observatory).
The Observatory further recalls that freedom of association and free access to funds are guaranteed by Articles 5 and 13 of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998.
Accordingly, the Observatory calls upon the Ethiopian authorities to immediately repeal the new Law on Charities and Societies, put an end to all acts of harassment against all human rights defenders in the country and ensure in all circumstances that they be able to carry out their work without unjustified hindrances, as well as to conform in any circumstances with the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and other human rights instruments and conventions ratified by Ethiopia.
window.
This new Law on Charities and Societies amends the Ethiopian Civil Code. It extends the definition of "foreign NGOs" - now governed by a more restrictive status - to almost all Ethiopian NGOs. This will result in muzzling the activities of the Ethiopian civil society organisations. The new piece of legislation also provides for the creation of an administrative body - the "Charities and Societies Agency" - iin charge of issues relating to the registration, functioning and dissolution of NGOs. The extensive powers given to this new agency will clearly pose a further impediment to freedom of association in the country.
Extension of the definition of "foreign NGOs" and interference in the activities of such rganisations:
The NGO law extends the definition of "foreign NGO". So far, an NGO created by Ethiopian nationals and in accordance with Ethiopian law was considered an Ethiopian NGO, regardless of its activities or sources of funding. The new law provides on the contrary that any organisation receiving more than 10% of foreign funding shall be labelled as a "foreign NGO".
This amendment is all the more worrying that another provision of the Charities and Societies law bans such "foreign NGOs" from carrying out activities in the fields of women and children’s' rights, disabled persons, ethnic issues, and conflict settlement and resolution. The implementation of the new law will therefore muzzle the Ethiopian civil society in key fields related to the promotion and protection of human rights, in a country where 95% of Ethiopian NGOs currently receive more than 10% of foreign funding.
If the issue of funding is used as a tool for restriction, some other provisions governing the functioning of "foreign NGOs" are also particularly repressive. Some provide that the Charities and Societies Agency to be set up will be able to appoint and remove executive members sitting with such organisations. Others relate to the allocation of budget and state that the executive members of "foreign NGOs" allocating more than 30% of their budget to administrative expenses shall be subjected to fines or imprisonment.
"This new law announces a severe crackdown on Ethiopian civil society. The authorities seem to have forecast everything that could be done to restrict the activities of NGOs, further harass their executive members and strike down their organisations This piece of legislation is absolutely contrary to international human rights standards, and this breaches in particular the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders", said Souhayr Belhassen, FIDH President.
Registration and dissolution submitted to arbitrary decisions
The law also provides setbacks in the fields of registration and dissolution. So far registration was granted following the issue of an authorisation by the Ministry of Justice. In case of refusal, the applicant organisation had the possibility to appeal this decision before a court. With the new legislation, any application for the registration of a "foreign NGO" shall be submitted to the Charities and Societies Agency, and any refusal of registration will only be appealed before the board of this agency. A second refusal by this body shall be a final decision. The agency will also have exclusive competence with regard to dissolution of so-called "foreign NGOs". The possibilities of appeal will be the same as these applied to registration.
"I am deeply concerned with the extension of the powers granted to the Ethiopian administration, which results in the sidelining of the competence of the judiciary for two essential steps in the life of an association. Freedom to associate has been one of the pillars of the defence of human rights in the world. With this new law, there are strong reasons to believe that most human rights defenders' activities will now be made impossible", denounced Eric Sottas, OMCT Secretary General.
The Observatory recalls that human rights defenders in Ethiopia have been subjected to ongoing acts of harassment in the pass (See Annual Report 2007 of the Observatory).
The Observatory further recalls that freedom of association and free access to funds are guaranteed by Articles 5 and 13 of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998.
Accordingly, the Observatory calls upon the Ethiopian authorities to immediately repeal the new Law on Charities and Societies, put an end to all acts of harassment against all human rights defenders in the country and ensure in all circumstances that they be able to carry out their work without unjustified hindrances, as well as to conform in any circumstances with the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and other human rights instruments and conventions ratified by Ethiopia.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Excellent Coordination!!!
Excellent Coordination- Jan 14, 2009
I’d like to see this go further. If any good is expected for the Ethiopian people, the dedication “must come” from all of us. Those of us who are scattered around the world must “UNIFY” to become the backbones of any movement that rises and give support.
Ethiopians must be able to stand up and say ENOUGH!!! Strikes…peaceful demonstrations for instance boycotting businesses that support the few elite.
This will require a great amount of sacrifice and dedication. People will be shot and killed, tortured and jailed. The effort of Ethiopian around the world will open up a window where the true colors of this arrogant regime can be shown to the world! IT IS THE ONLY WAY AND IT MUST BE DONE!
Free Birtukan Mideksa.
Free Teddy Afro.
Free Bekele Jirata
- Alemu
I’d like to see this go further. If any good is expected for the Ethiopian people, the dedication “must come” from all of us. Those of us who are scattered around the world must “UNIFY” to become the backbones of any movement that rises and give support.
Ethiopians must be able to stand up and say ENOUGH!!! Strikes…peaceful demonstrations for instance boycotting businesses that support the few elite.
This will require a great amount of sacrifice and dedication. People will be shot and killed, tortured and jailed. The effort of Ethiopian around the world will open up a window where the true colors of this arrogant regime can be shown to the world! IT IS THE ONLY WAY AND IT MUST BE DONE!
Free Birtukan Mideksa.
Free Teddy Afro.
Free Bekele Jirata
- Alemu
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