Since the elections held on May 15, 2005, human rights violations such as killings, arbitrary and incommunicado detentions, beatings, torture, harassment and disappearances by security forces have been committed in Addis Ababa and other towns. The repression started on June 8, 2005 when the main opposition parties accused authorities of rigging the polls that returned the ruling party, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front led by the Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, to power. 42 people died in June protests.1
Since early November 2005, a second wave of repression has come down on Ethiopia. On November 1, 2005, security forces killed demonstrators protesting against the outcome of parliamentary elections in Addis Ababa and other towns. According to Special Report N° 90 of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO), the FIDH member organisation in Ethiopia, dated December 6, 2005, at least 34 unarmed protesters, including students and children, have been killed by police forces, 62 injured, 28 disappeared and thousands arrested.
As of December 6, 2005, at least 300 people were still in detention, these included civilians, leaders of the opposition parties, human rights defenders and journalists.
The situation is now deteriorating and the repression is continuing notably against journalists. Since the beginning of November, 15 journalists have been arrested and an unknown number of others detained incommunicado. Their family members have been threatened and according to our information, some of them are also currently being detained by security forces. The latter raided the offices of several newspapers and seized documents and computers. According to Prime Minister Zenawi, the journalists had been trying to instigate violence through their newspapers and will be charged with treason, an offence that carries the death penalty in Ethiopia.
The Ethiopian government has issued a « wanted list » of 58 people for their role in the November events, which was published on November 6, 2005 in the Amharic-language biweekly Iftin. This list includes publishers and editors of private Amharic-language weekly newspapers, opposition members and human rights defenders.
On November 7, 2005, 19 top officials from the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), three journalists and a trade unionist appeared before the Federal High Court in Addis Ababa which ordered their detention for a further 14 days. Among them were CUD Chairman Hailu Shawel; mayor of Addis Ababa and CUD Vice Chairman Berhanu Nega and CUD Council member and former president of EHRCO Mesfin Wolde Mariam. According to the Prime Minister, they could also face treason charges for their role in the events that occured in November.
On November 21, 2005, in their second court appearance, while no charges or evidence were presented to the Court, they were denied bail and remanded for a further 10 days. On November 28, 2005, the main opposition leaders went on a hunger strike to protest their detentions without charge.
On December 1, 2005, the Federal High Court again refused to grant bail to the detainees and ordered the Prosecution to file its charges against the suspects within 15 days.
The FIDH is therefore calling on :
the Ethiopian government to:
– immediately put an end to the continued violations of human rights in the country and refrain from using excessive force against civilians,
– ensure that all unlawfully detained prisoners, human rights activists, journalists will be released and guarantee a fair trial to the other detainees,
bring the perpetrators of human rights violations to justice,
– nominate an impartial and independent panel, of which civil society should be a part, to investigate the post-election clashes of June and November 2005 and whether armed police and troops who opened fire on the protesters used excessive force,
– guarantee, at all times, the freedoms of opinion and expression as well as the right to hold peaceful demonstrations and to political assembly, in compliance with the Ethiopian Constitution and the international and regional instruments ratified by Ethiopia and, notably the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR).
– guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of human rights defenders in compliance with international instruments especially the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in December 1998.
the United Nations to :
– establish an independent inquiry commission to investigate the human rights violations committed by security forces in Ethiopia in connection with the May 15, 2005 elections, of which the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights defenders, the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment and a member of the Working Group on arbitrary detention should be a part.
the African Union to:
– condemn the violations by the Ethiopian government of the ACHPR.