Defending human rights in Ethiopia today comes down to facing constant risks of clashes with federal, regional and local authorities, who show a blatant will to control and neutralise independent civil society, while the ruling power and State agents continue to subject human rights defenders to repression, harassment and retaliation.
As the Observatory’s mission could observe, the crackdown on fundamental rights and freedoms - in particular freedoms of association, of expression and of the press - in 2004 and early 2005 took the form of an increased institutionalisation and judicialisation: new restrictive press and NGO laws are currently under review, and several associations faced legal actions initiated by the government and its Ministries, aiming at curtailing their activities. A number of defenders remain subjected to judicial harassment on the grounds of fallacious accusations, such as Messrs. Mesfin Wolde Mariam, president of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO), Birhanu Nega, chairman of the Ethiopian Economic Association, and Abate Angore, member of the executive board of the Ethiopian Teachers’ Association (ETA), who are still prosecuted for their outspoken position against the police violence that struck a student protest movement in April 2001. In this regard, the conviction and arrest of Mr. Abate Angore on February 3, 2005, is particularly alarming.
State authorities also tried to replace independent civil society organisations by pro-governmental NGOs. This pernicious strategy, which had already been used in the 1990s against ETA, was once more resorted to against the Ethiopian Free Journalists’ Association (EFJA), whose executive board was re-elected in January 2004 by a general assembly convened by the Minister of Justice and in the absence of EFJA members. On December 24, 2004, however, the Federal First Instance Court ruled the Ministry of Justice’s attempt to challenge the “genuine” EFJA’s legal existence null and void - a decision that was confirmed by the Federal High Court on March 3, 2005.
Human rights defenders and associations also have to face recurrent smear and discredit campaigns orchestrated by the authorities: several reports published by the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO), and denouncing human rights violations (notably linked to the ethnic policy and the repression of Oromo populations) in the country, gave rise to virulent reactions from the government.
The weaknesses of the judiciary and the subjugation of the legislative, dominated by the ruling Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), further undermine the possible recourse for human rights defenders facing the overwhelming, repressive power of the executive.
On May 15, 2005, Ethiopians will elect the members of the House of Peoples’ Representatives (HPR), the lower chamber of the Parliament. Whilst last HPR elections held in May 2000 were marred by reported irregularities and acts of violence against opposition candidates and supporters, notably in rural areas, this national poll is of primary importance for human rights defenders, all the more that the new elected chamber will be in charge of adopting or not the above-mentioned restrictive legislations. It is to be hoped that the Ethiopian government will ensure a free and fair environment for international and human rights NGOs to monitor this poll, and that these elections will mark a new era of respect for and commitment to international human rights standards and instruments that Ethiopia ratified.
The Observatory notably strongly urges the Ethiopian authorities to:
– Put an immediate end to all acts of harassment and reprisals against human rights defenders, in compliance with article 12.2 of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, which provides that “[t]he State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the Declaration”, and in compliance with the resolution on human rights defenders in Africa adopted by the 35th session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights on June 4, 2004;
– Ensure the respect for the freedoms of association, peaceful assembly and expression, in accordance with articles 5 and 6 of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the African Rights Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and ensure that national laws and legislative measures comply with these provisions;
– Put an immediate end to judicial harassment of independent civil society organisations and respect court’s decision ruled in their favour;
– Facilitate an adequate and transparent registration system for civil society organisations in the country, in order to foster and strengthen the establishment of an independent civil society;
– Guarantee the independence of the judiciary and ensure that adequate protection is offered to its members in the exercise of their functions;
– Immediately order impartial investigations into all cases of direct threats, intimidation and harassment perpetrated against human rights defenders, in order to identify their authors, prosecute them and judge them in conformity with the law;
– Ensure that the fight against terrorism does not hinder or violate fundamental human rights and freedoms provided by the Universal Declaration for Human Rights and the international and regional instruments ratified by Ethiopia, notably the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and to guarantee that anti-terrorist measures do not target specific ethnic groups nor foster ethnic hatred;