(Amnesty international) Nearly one year on from the start of a wave of protests that has left
at least 800 people dead at the hands of security forces, the Ethiopian
government must take concrete steps to address grave human rights
concerns in the country, Amnesty International said today.
The protests began in the central Oromia region on 12 November 2015,
in opposition to the Addis Ababa Masterplan, a government plan to extend
the capital Addis Ababa’s administrative control into parts of the
Oromia.
“A year after these deadly protests began, tensions in Ethiopia
remain high and the human rights situation dire, with mass
arrests internet shutdowns and sporadic clashes between the security
forces and local communities, especially in the north of the country,”
said Michelle Kagari, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director
for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.
“It’s high time the Ethiopian authorities stopped paying lip service
to reform and instead took concrete steps to embrace it, including by
releasing the myriad political prisoners it is holding merely for
expressing their opinions. They should also repeal the repressive laws
that imprisoned them in the first place, including the draconian
Anti-Terrorism Proclamation that has also contributed to the unrest.”
Even after the Addis Ababa Masterplan was scrapped in January 2016,
protests continued with demonstrators demanding an end to human rights
violations, ethnic marginalization and the continued detention of Oromo
leaders.
The protests later expanded into the Amhara region with demands for
an end to arbitrary arrests and ethnic marginalization. They were
triggered by attempts by the security forces to arrest Colonel Demeka
Zewdu, one of the leaders of the Wolqait Identity and Self-Determination
Committee, on alleged terrorism offences. Wolqait, an administrative
district in the Tigray region, has been campaigning for reintegration
into the Amhara region, to which it belonged until 1991.
Just as in Oromia, security forces responded with excessive and
lethal force in their efforts to quell the protests. Amnesty
International estimates that at least 800 people have been killed since
the protests began, most of them in the two regions.
One of the worst single incidents took place on 2 October 2016 when
at least 55 people were trampled to death in a stampede during the Oromo
religious festival of Irrecha, held in the town of Bishoftu, about 45
kilometres southeast of Addis Ababa. Oromo activists blamed the stampede
on the security forces who they said fired live rounds and tear gas
into the crowd causing a panic. The authorities deny any wrongdoing.
No protests have been observed since a state of emergency was
declared on 9 October, but this has come at the steep price of increased
human rights violations, including mass arbitrary arrests and media
restrictions, including internet blockages.
“The Ethiopian government’s heavy-handed response to largely peaceful
protests started a vicious cycle of protests and totally avoidable
bloodshed. If it does not address the protesters’ grievances, we are
concerned that it is only a matter of time before another round of
unrest erupts,” said Michelle Kagari.
“The restrictive measures imposed as part of the state of emergency
only sweeps the underlying issues under the carpet. To fully address the
situation, the government must genuinely commit to human rights,
including by amending legislation like the anti-terrorism proclamation
to bring it fully in line with Ethiopia’s human rights obligations; and
ensure its people can enjoy their right to express their opinions
including those which criticise government policy and action; and their
right to peaceful assembly.”
Background
Ethiopia’s Anti-Terrorism Proclamation of 2009 includes an overly
broad and vague definition of terrorist acts and a definition of
“encouragement of terrorism” that makes the publication of statements
“likely to be understood as encouraging terrorist acts” punishable by 10
to 20 years in prison.
The ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF)
has repeatedly promised to undertake fundamental reform in governance,
but has shown no overt sign of genuine commitment to reform. It
continues to use excessive force against largely peaceful protesters,
labelling them as anti-peace forces, instead of acknowledging and
addressing their legitimate grievances.
