European Human Rights Committee Denied Access to Ethiopian Prison

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Chair of the European Parliament Subcommittee for Human Rights, Barbara Lochbihler, talks to the media, February 2010.

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Marthe van der Wolf

July 17, 201

ADDIS ABABA — Members of a European Parliament human rights delegation have been blocked from visiting an Ethiopian prison, and are concerned about the human rights situation in that nation.

On Wednesday, the European Parliament Subcommittee for Human Rights wrapped up a visit to Ethiopia to assess the country's human rights situation. The delegation had a trip scheduled to the infamous Kality prison just outside the capital, Addis Ababa. The facility is known for housing political prisoners in harsh living conditions.

In spite of previous assurances from Ethiopia’s government, however, the group was denied access to the prison Wednesday morning, according to delegation member Jacek Protasiewicz.

“We were more than disappointed. Personally I cannot understand the reasons behind it," said Protasiewicz. "Because if you don’t want to show the parliamentarians how people are detained and the conditions in the prisons, it is clearly that something is to be hidden.”

The delegation also was scheduled to meet with a prominent imprisoned journalist, Reeyot Alemu, at the prison.

The members of the committee called upon the Ethiopian government to release journalists and opposition members, jailed under Ethiopia's anti-terrorism proclamation.

The European Union (EU) delegation said it believes the proclamation is used arbitrarily. The proclamation has also been criticized by organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

A framework for non-governmental organizations (NGOs), implemented by the Ethiopian government, also is a point of concern for the EU subcommittee. The framework includes rules that say no more than 10 percent of an NGO's funding can come from foreign partners when the organization works in the field of human rights.

The chair of the EU delegation, Barbara Lochbihler, believes the framework makes it difficult for NGOs to work independently.

“We strongly encourage the government to give more space on the domestic levels for civil society organizations to operate independently and in a meaningful way. We think the restrictive NGO framework should be urgently revised,” said Lochbihler.

The conclusions of the visit will be presented to the European Parliament. If Ethiopia does not improve its human rights record, it might be complicate the country's trade with the European Union. The EU is considering linking trade policy agreements to other factors, such as human rights.

Ethiopia’s Opposition Rises Again (IPS)

GONDAR, Ethiopia, Jul 18 2013 (IPS) - Since the violent quashing of political protests after the ruling party won Ethiopia’s 2005 elections, this East African nation has seen little in the way of political dissent. That is, until the last few months.

On Jul. 14 several hundred opposition protestors gathered in northern town of Gondar to and called on the government to stop exploiting the antiterrorism law and release those whom the law has been used to imprison. Credit: William Lloyd-George/IPS

Since June, the country has witnessed mass protests in three of its major cities. Despite the significance of these protests, observers disagree over how much they signal a rebirth for the country’s opposition movement and the government’s tolerance of it.

“Until the recent protests, most had lost faith in the democratisation process and opposition parties,” Hallelujah Lulie, a political analyst from the Ethiopia-based Institute for Security Studies told IPS.

When the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front won another term of office in 2005, thousands of protestors took to the streets in protest, as the party has been in power since 1991. It had appeared that the ruling party rigged the vote as many expected the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy and the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces to win.

The crackdown led to the arrest of several opposition party politicians, with many others being forced to flee the country and give up politics.

“Recent opposition activities, however, show that people are beginning to recognise the opposition again, which could be a big boost for the domestic opposition parties,” said Hallelujah.

On Jun. 2 a new opposition group, the Blue Party, organised mass protests in the country’s capital, Addis Ababa. Thousands marched down one of the city’s main avenues, calling for the release of political prisoners and journalists and the reform of government policies.

The protest was given permission, and no arrests were made during, before, or after the demonstration, leading some to believe that the government had become more tolerant towards opposition activities.

“While there have been no arrests so far, we have credible information that the government is plotting to break up our movement and label us as terrorists. We have seen no change in the government or a willingness to engage in dialogue with us,” Yilkal Getnet, chairman of the Blue Party, told IPS.

Getachew Reda, spokesman for the Ethiopian Prime Minister’s office, told IPS that they would not negotiate with the protestors, as there are proper legal channels to address issues that they had not exhausted.

“Despite a lack of response from the government, we believe that the opposition movement will continue to gain momentum and are deeply encouraged by the (recent) protests,” said Yilkal.

On Jul. 14, the major opposition party, the Union for Democracy and Justice (UDJ), organised protests in two major cities, Gondar and Dessie, in north and north-central Ethiopia, respectively. It was part of a campaign ‘One Million Voices for Freedom’, which sought to get one million signatures on a petition with demands similar to those of the Blue Party.

EU delegation: Ethiopia should release jailed journalists and activists

by Associated Press

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — A European Union parliament delegation on Wednesday called on Ethiopia’s government to release jailed journalists and activists, but in a sign the call may not be heeded the delegation was denied from visiting a prison it had been approved to see.

The head of the delegation, Barbara Lochbihler, said Ethiopia is jailing journalists and activists for “exercising their legitimate right to freedoms of expression, association and religion.” The group is concerned by reports of misuse of the country’s anti-terrorism legislation to stifle dissent, she said.

“Despite the country’s excellent constitution, we note flaws in the impartiality of the judicial system,” Lochbihler told journalists at a press conference Wednesday.

A spokesman for the Ethiopian Prime Minister said the country doesn’t have any political prisoners and that prisoners would not be released “just because some European Union members said so.”

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Ethiopian government criminalizes the coverage of any group the government deems to be a terrorist group, a list that includes opposition political parties.

“Among those jailed is Eskinder Nega, an award-winning blogger whose critical commentary on the government’s extensive use of anti-terror laws led to his own conviction on terrorism charges,” the group said in its latest survey, which placed Ethiopia among the world’s top ten worst jailers of journalists.

The EU parliament delegation said certain broadcasters are jammed in Ethiopia and that access to the Internet and social media are “regularly restricted.” The practice is at odds with the Ethiopian constitution, the delegation said in a statement.

The four-person delegation, drawn from the parliament’s subcommittee on human rights, said the Ethiopian government must guarantee freedom of speech and the right to peaceful assembly at all times in accordance with its constitution and obligations under international law. The delegation met top government officials, activists and leaders of the opposition.

Earlier on Wednesday the delegation was scheduled to visit to the country’s Kaliti prison where most activists are believed to be serving their sentence. But the prison director turned the group back on arrival, saying “he didn’t have time to work with you,” according to a member of the delegation, Jorg Leichtfried.

Leichtfried told a news conference their visit was “overshadowed” by the incident. He described it as an episode he doesn’t wish to experience again. All four delegation members spoke about the incident, which appeared to have frustrated them.

The delegation said Ethiopia itself has requested international assistance to improve its detention centers and their visit was to have a firsthand experience of the detention conditions.

Getachew Reda, a spokesman for Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, said he was not aware of any decisions either to grant permission to see the prison or to deny it. Getachew said only family members can visit the prisoners.

Please Leave the Ethiopian Muslims’ Movement alone!

by Maru Zeleke

The Ethiopian Muslim population, generally reflective of the wider Ethiopian context, comprise of diverse cultures, histories and political affiliations. What ties them together is their allegiance to a common religion. This fact has been starkly reflected in the now two years but few months old peaceful struggle of Ethiopian Muslims. The movement has managed to regulate, but not eliminate, the diverse manifestations of difference within the Muslim population and channel their grievances into a unified call for freedom. This unity in diversity has been an exemplary success of the struggle, but it has by no means escaped some challenges.

The recent political reflections by Jawar have raised much dust, almost “rocky” one. Ethiopian nationalists and some Muslim activists alike have felt obliged to air their sharply critical views on it. Due to the person’s relatively high profile in Ethiopian political discourse, some aspect of the fuss is expected. But at least one aspect of it is not at all commendable.

Hinging on Jawar’s apparent association with the Ethiopian Muslim movement, some writers have tried to question his intentions behind his support for it. While some have attributed to him an ethno- Islamist agenda, others have simply made of him a political entrepreneur trying to make use of religion for political purposes. Both positions, however, have tried to accuse him not only of parochialism but also hypocrisy.

What is worse, some have gone to the extent of calling Ethiopian Muslims to distance themselves from him. The Ethiopian Muslims’ struggle, they claim, is self-evidently an Ethiopian rights’ struggle that should not be taken hostage by a few “extremists” and “ethnic nationalists”. Hence, the need for the call to “liberate” the struggle from “unwanted elements”.

In connection with this last point,–which is my concern in this short piece—it should be known by all and sundry that the Ethiopian Muslim movement is a broad-based struggle for religious freedom. It has, first, brought together Muslims from diverse backgrounds and, most importantly, political outlooks. Any conscious and concerned Muslim has immediately become part of this struggle, regardless of his/her political attitudes and associations. In fact, the strength of the movement has emanated from its openly embracing a plurality of views and background.  Second, the moral and political appeal of this historic movement has drawn the attention of a wide range of non-Muslim Ethiopians—again from diverse perspectives. They all have come by the side of Muslims in the latter’s quest for democracy, secularism, freedom and dignity. It is indeed a spectacular manifestation of the broad-based nature of this movement that it has brought together activists and supporters from all ranges of philosophical, identitarian and political settings.

It is, therefore, both futile and disastrous to require all those who support the Muslim movement to hold fast to a single conception of the political world. It is futile because all sorts of differences are simply a permanent aspect of our polity (which Muslims are a part of). It is disastrous because the more we push forward this agenda of political conformity in relation to the Muslim struggle, the more we entangle this non-political movement with the most divisive political agendas, and thereby, the more we lose the benefit we would gain by supporting it collectively as an unprecedentedly sustainable, formidable and peaceful bulwark against unbridled state autocracy.

It is also important to know that, while people of diverse views in the Diaspora have spoken in favour of this struggle, none can speak on behalf of it. All political analyst Jawar Mohammed (ethno nationalist Muslim)[1], journalist Sadiq Mohammed (Ethiopian nationalist Muslim), and activist Tamagn Beyene (Ethiopian nationalist Christian), for instance, have been highly supportive of the Muslim struggle, but none have dared to claim for themselves any leadership or representative roles. Ironically, Jawar has been the most vocal in this respect. He has time and again emphasized that Diasporas like him can never represent or lead the peaceful struggle back home; only those inside, and those at the battlefront are the actual participants in it. Thus, it is fair neither to any of the Diaspora supporters of the movement nor to the movement itself to associate it with any political, academic or religious figure based just on one’s pro-struggle positions. This is a movement that had been led by its elected leaders for some time, and then, upon their incarceration, by those who got endorsement to lead both by the incarcerated leaders and the Muslim activists at large.

U.S., U.K. Ignore Ethiopian Rights Abuses, Advocacy Group Says

Bloomberg News
by William Davison
The U.K. and U.S. have ignored first-hand accounts of human rights violations in southern Ethiopia where the government is forcibly relocating people for commercial-scale sugar plantations, the Oakland Institute said.
The Western governments are “willful accomplices and supporters of a development strategy that will have irreversible devastating impacts on the environment and natural resources and will destroy the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of indigenous people,” the California-based research and advocacy group said yesterday in a report.
The U.K.’s Department for International Development denied it was funding resettlement programs, while the U.S. Agency for International Development office in Ethiopia didn’t respond to questions e-mailed on July 16. Ethiopia’s government described allegations in the institute’s report as “pure rubbish.”
Increasing agricultural output and the transfer of land to private investors for commercial farming are part of the government’s five-year economic-development plan through mid-2015 to reach growth of as much as 15 percent a year. The Horn of African nation’s mixed economy relies on state companies to run telecommunications, banking and power, and private investment in farming and manufacturing.
Gross domestic product may expand 6.5 percent this year, faster than average 5 percent for emerging- and developing-nation economies and 5.1 percent in sub-Saharan Africa, according to an International Monetary Fund forecast.
An estimated 260,000 people from 17 groups in the Lower Omo and around Lake Turkana may be affected by the resettlement and large-scale farming projects, the institute said. A dam built for the sugar plantations has ended the annual flood that 170,000 people living by the Omo River used for cultivation.

Right Abuses

“Forced evictions, denial of access to subsistence land, beatings, killings, rapes, imprisonment, intimidation, political coercion and the denial of government assistance are all being used as tools of forced resettlement,” the Oakland Institute said.
Officials from the U.S. and U.K. visited South Omo in January 2012. Will Hurd, the author of Oakland Institute’s report titled “Ignoring Abuse in Ethiopia,” translated interviews for the group, according to the report.
The community recounted stories of mass arrests, intimidation by security forces and the rape of women and a boy, according to an official statement about the visit on the website of the U.K. parliament. The accusations “could not be substantiated,” according to the donors’ statement, which recommended a more detailed investigation.
“International donors have been accused of supporting programs connected with the resettlement sites,” according to the Oakland Institute’s report.

Double Blow