Ethiopia: Transparency Group Should Reject Membership
Source: Human Rights
Repression of Civil Society Contravenes Organization’s Rules
(New York) – A major global initiative to encourage governments to better manage natural resource revenues should reject Ethiopia’s bid for membership due to its harsh restrictions on civil society, Human Rights Watch said today.
The governing board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is expected to make a decision about Ethiopia’s candidacy at its next meeting, on March 18 and 19, 2014, in Oslo. EITI was founded in 2003 to strengthen governance by increasing transparency over revenues from the oil, gas, and mining industries. Itsmembers include countries, companies, and civil society representatives.
“The Ethiopian government has crushed activist groups and muzzled the media,” said Lisa Misol, senior business and human rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Ethiopia’s harsh repression of independent voices is utterly incompatible with this global effort to increase public oversight over government.”
An earlier effort by Ethiopia to join the transparency group was rebuffed in 2010 out of concerns over a draconian 2009 law, still in effect, that sharply limits the activities of independent groups. Civil society representatives on EITI’s board said that the law contravened the initiative’s standards that make the free and active participation of independent organizations a requirement for a country to join.
The board deferred the decision, and suggested that it would not reconsider “until the Proclamation on Charities and Society Law is no longer in place.”
Source: Human Rights
Repression of Civil Society Contravenes Organization’s Rules
(New York) – A major global initiative to encourage governments to better manage natural resource revenues should reject Ethiopia’s bid for membership due to its harsh restrictions on civil society, Human Rights Watch said today.
The governing board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is expected to make a decision about Ethiopia’s candidacy at its next meeting, on March 18 and 19, 2014, in Oslo. EITI was founded in 2003 to strengthen governance by increasing transparency over revenues from the oil, gas, and mining industries. Itsmembers include countries, companies, and civil society representatives.
“The Ethiopian government has crushed activist groups and muzzled the media,” said Lisa Misol, senior business and human rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Ethiopia’s harsh repression of independent voices is utterly incompatible with this global effort to increase public oversight over government.”
An earlier effort by Ethiopia to join the transparency group was rebuffed in 2010 out of concerns over a draconian 2009 law, still in effect, that sharply limits the activities of independent groups. Civil society representatives on EITI’s board said that the law contravened the initiative’s standards that make the free and active participation of independent organizations a requirement for a country to join.
The board deferred the decision, and suggested that it would not reconsider “until the Proclamation on Charities and Society Law is no longer in place.”
