Heavy-handed
measures by the Ethiopian government will only escalate a deepening crisis that
has claimed the lives of more than 800 protesters since protests began in
November 2015, said Amnesty International today after the government issued a
directive imposing wide-ranging restrictions as part of a state of emergency.
The
directive authorises arrests without warrants, as well as rehabilitation
measures. When such measures have been used in the past, they have led to
arbitrary detention of protesters at remote military facilities without access
to their families and lawyers.
“These
emergency measures are extremely severe and so broad that they threaten basic
human rights that must not be curtailed even under a state of emergency,” said
Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East Africa, the
Horn and the Great Lakes.
“These
measures will deepen, not mitigate, the underlying causes of the sustained
protests we have seen throughout the year, which have been driven by
deep-seated human rights grievances. These grievances must be properly
addressed by the authorities. Further crackdowns and human rights violations
will only make the situation worse.”
It is the government’s failure to constructively engage with the protesters that continues to fuel these protests. It must now change course
In
a public statement issued today Amnesty
International recommends that instead of further curtailing human rights, the
government should seize the moment and recommit itself to respecting,
protecting and fulfilling them, in line with its regional and international obligations.
“It
is the government’s failure to constructively engage with the protesters that
continues to fuel these protests. It must now change course,” said Muthoni
Wanyeki.
“The
government must ensure an end to excessive and arbitrary use of force by the
security forces against demonstrators and release all protesters, opposition
leaders and supporters, as well as journalists and bloggers, arrested for
exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful
assembly.”
At
least 600 protesters have been killed in Oromia and 200 in Amhara since
November last year.
Background
Protests
began in November 2015 when ethnic Oromos took to the streets fearing possible
land seizures under the government’s Addis Ababa Masterplan, which aimed to
expand the capital’s administrative control into Oromia. The protests continued
even after the Addis Ababa Masterplan was scrapped, evolving into demands for
accountability for human rights violations, ethnic equality and the release of
political prisoners.
Protests
later spread to Amhara, a region that has long complained of marginalization.
The
worst incident involved the death of possibly hundreds of protesters in a
stampede on 2 October at Bishoftu, about 45 kilometres southeast of Addis
Ababa, during the Irrecha religious festival. Protest groups say the stampede
was caused by the security forces’ unnecessary and excessive use of force. The
government has denied this, instead blaming the deaths on “anti-peace forces.”
Source:
Amnesty International
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