Analysis of the Ethiopia Charities and Societies Proclamation 00/ 2008
By Mandeep S. Tiwana, Civil Society Watch Associate, CIVICUS
CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation is an international alliance based in South
Africa. CIVICUS works with our members and partners in over 100 countries to support and
strengthen civil society and citizen action around the world. CIVICUS works with diverse
stakeholders to assist them in ensuring legislation and administrative practices related to civil
society comply with best practice around the world.Read more ...
Amnesty international
Ethiopia:
Comments on Draft Charities and
Societies Proclamation
1. Introduction
Amnesty International is deeply concerned by the repressive Draft Charities and Societies
Proclamation, which clearly aims not only to undermine and frustrate the work of
independent civil society organizations in Ethiopia but also to bar foreign non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) such as Amnesty International from operating in the country. The Draft
Proclamation demonstrates the government’s increasing intolerance of the work of human
rights defenders and civil society organizations, and would seem to be a ploy by the
government to conceal human rights violations and prevent public protest and criticism of its
actions. If passed into law, the Draft Proclamation will certainly have a negative impact on
the human rights of citizens throughout Ethiopia.Read more ...
PUBLIC STATEMENT
AI Index: AFR 25/006/2008
1 July 2008
Ethiopia: Government Prepares Assault on Civil Society
Repressive New Legislation Should be Amended or Scrapped
(New York, July 1, 2008) - Ethiopia’s government should immediately abandon plans to impose
strict government controls and draconian criminal penalties on non-governmental organizations
(NGOs), Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said today. The two groups called on
donor governments, whose behind-the-scenes efforts to see the bill reformed appear to have failed,
to speak out publicly against the de facto criminalization of most of the human rights, rule of law
and peace-building work currently being carried out in Ethiopia.Read more ...
EHRCO
The Human Rights Situation in Ethiopia
30th Regular Report
May 2008
Introduction
The Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO) in this 30th regular report assesses the general human rights situation in the country. The human rights violations incorporated in this report have not been covered by any of EHRCO’s preceding reports issued until the end of March 2008, and are compiled based on complaints received from victims, evidence gathered through onsite investigations and testimonies of eyewitnesses.
Part One:
Human Rights Violations incorporated in the Report:-
Extra judicial killings
18
Beating and torture
69
Assault by firearms
16
Illegal detention 176
Threats and intimidation
5
Denial of justice
1
Destruction/Looting of property
12
Part Two:
Violations caused as a result of ethnic and religious conflicts:-
• 12 persons killed (the details are incorporated in the “Extra judicial killings” section)
• Property estimated to be worth 29,000 Birr has been damaged
• An elderly man was stabbed to death by a machete and 15 others sustained bodily injuries. Read more ...
Collective Punishment
War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity in the
Ogaden area of Ethiopia's Somali Regional State
June 2008. Read more ...
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Ethiopia: Repression Sets Stage for Non-Competitive Elections
Opposition Candidates, Voters Silenced Ahead of Local Polls
(New York, April 11, 2008) – The Ethiopian government’s repression of registered opposition parties and ordinary voters has largely prevented political competition ahead of local elections that begin on April 13, Human Rights Watch said today. These widespread acts of violence, arbitrary detention and intimidation mirror long-term patterns of abuse designed to suppress political dissent in Ethiopia. Read more ...
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release: 28 March 2008
Ethiopia: Two prisoners of conscience freed
Amnesty International today welcomed the release of human rights activists Daniel Bekele and
Netsanet Demissie, who had been detained in Ethiopia since November 2005, but said the two
prisoners of conscience should be compensated for the time they spent in prison.
The two men were released today, having received a presidential pardon after they signed a letter“acknowledging mistakes” committed in relation to the 2005 elections. It is not yet clear if the
pardon is unconditional. Read more ...
EHRCO
Demands for self-administration need a lasting solution
107th Special report
February 28, 2008
In this 107th Special Report, EHRCO presents details of its findings on human rights violations perpetrated against citizens owing to the conflict that sparked between members of the Gewada (Ale) ethnic group and government armed forces (including federal police and the army) in the Derashe and Konso special woredas of the South Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR). Read more ...(Amharic)
EHRCO
Seek a durable solution to ethnic conflicts
106th Special Report
January 31,2008
In this 106th Special Report the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO) presents details of the result of its onsite investigation on the ethnic conflict that flared up between members of the Koira and Guji Oromo ethnic groups living in the neighboring weredas of Amaro Kelle in the South Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR) and Abaya Gelana in the Oromia region. Read more ...
EHRCO
The Human Rights Situation in Ethiopia
29th Regular Report
January 2008
Introduction
The Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO) in this 29th regular report assesses the general human rights situation in the country. The human rights violations incorporated in this report have not been covered by any of EHRCO’s preceding reports issued until the end of December 2007, and are compiled based on complaints received from victims, evidence gathered through onsite investigations and testimonies of eyewitnesses.Read more...
Ethiopia - Annual Report 2008
Area : 1,104,300 sq. km.
Population : 81,021,000.
Language : Amharic.
Head of government : Meles Zenawi.
The crisis which began in November 2005 with the arrest of around 20 newspaper bosses ended honourably, in 2007, thanks to international pressure. But the climate remains bad and self-censorship frequent. Two Eritrea journalists are still being used as hostages, after their capture in Somalia.
The Ethiopia of Meles Zenawi is not the dictatorship of former president Mengistu, who was overthrown in 1991 and who held the country in a Stalinist grip. Privately-owned newspapers do their best to enliven the intellectual life of the capital, Addis Ababa but the climate is hostile. Heavy prison sentences are always inflicted on those who an easily influenced court system considers guilty of “defamation” or “publishing false news”. Self-censorship is constant. Foreign correspondents based in Ethiopia have to take care not to embarrass the government, which is facing a raft of military problems in the provinces and the region, and which reacts with extreme harshness towards journalists it views as dangerous.Read more...
EHRCO:
Put a Stop to Illegal Acts: Arbaminch zuria wereda
105th Special Report
January 10, 2008
Article 16 of the FDRE Constitution provides that, “Everyone has the right to protection against bodily harm.” Article 14 of the Constitution also states that everyone has an inviolable and inalienable right to life, the security of person and liberty. Moreover, Article 31 of the Constitution provides, “Every person has the right to freedom of association for any cause or purpose.” Furthermore, Article 41(1) of the Constitution affirms the right of every Ethiopian to engage freely in economic activity and to pursue a livelihood of his/her choice anywhere within the national territory.Read more... Amharic
AAU: Respect the right to a hearing of students!
104th Special Report
29 November 2007
Introduction
Article 13(1) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights provides that everyone has the right to education. This article underscores the agreement of the States Parties to see to it that education should be directed to the full development of the human personality and the sense of its dignity and should strengthen respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Article 41(2) of the FDRE Constitution provides, “Every Ethiopian has the right to choose his or her means of livelihood, occupation and profession.” As people should have adequate education to be able to fully exercise their rights, this article of the Constitution also provides that the state has the obligation to allocate ever increasing resources to provide education and other social services.Read more...
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION UPDATE
PUBLIC AI Index: AFR 25/001/2008
9 January 2008
Further Information on UA 299/07 (AFR 25/027/2007, 09 November 2007) – Prisoner of conscience
ETHIOPIA: Daniel Bekele (m), policy manager of the Ethiopian office of ActionAid (international development NGO), lawyer
Netsanet Demissie (m), director of NGO Organization for Social Justice in Ethiopia
On 24 December, human rights defenders Daniel Bekele and Netsanet Demissie were convicted of "provoking and preparing outrages against the Ethiopian Constitution". Amnesty International considers they were convicted solely for their peaceful civil society activism. The prosecuting attorney demanded the maximum punishment of 10-year prison sentences be handed to them and also for the deprivation of their political rights after their eventual release. Read more...
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION UPDATE
PUBLIC AI Index: AFR 25/031/2007
12 December 2007
Further Information on UA 299/07 (AFR 25/037/2007, 9 November 2007) Prisoners of conscience
ETHIOPIA : Daniel Bekele (m), policy manager of the Ethiopian office of ActionAid (international development NGO), lawyer
Netsanet Demissie (m), director of NGO Organization for Social Justice in Ethiopia, lawyer
The Federal High Court in Addis Ababa has yet again postponed delivering a verdict against prisoners of conscience Daniel Bekele and Netsanet Demissie, who face possible life sentences on political charges. The verdict was due to be given on 22 November, then 30 November and is now due to be given on 24 December whilst one of three presiding judges is replaced after falling ill. Both men have already been held in prison for more than two years, as bail has continually been refused. Read more...
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION UPDATE
PUBLIC AI Index: AFR 25/027/2007
UA 299/07 Prisoners of Concience
9 November 2007
ETHIOPIA: Daniel Bekele (m), policy manager of the Ethiopian office of ActionAid(international development NGO), lawyer
Netsanet Demissie (m), director of NGO Organization for Social Justice in Ethiopia
Human rights defenders Daniel Bekele and Netsanet Demissie face possible sentences of life imprisonment on 22 November. Amnesty International considers them prisoners of conscience, detained solely for their peaceful human rights activism.
On 22 November, the Ethiopian Federal High Court is due to hand down a judgement in the long-running trial of Daniel Bekele and Netsanet Demissie on charges of committing “outrages against the Constitution”. Both have been held in detention since November 2005 and are the two remaining defendants in a high profile trial of human rights defenders, opposition leaders and journalists, where all the other defendants have already been released. Some were acquitted in April 2007. Others were sentenced to prison terms in July, but were swiftly pardoned as part of a negotiated agreement with the government.Read more...
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When I despair, I remember that all through history, the
way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and
murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they
always fall, think of it, always
Mahtama Ghandi 
Sign petition to make Human Rights violation history
