Security officials watch as demonstrators chant slogans while flashing the protest gesture during Irreecha, the thanksgiving festival of the Oromo people, in Bishoftu town, Oromia region, Ethiopia, on October 2, 2016.
© 2016 Reuters
The following questions and answers are critical to
understanding recent events inEthiopia.
Responses are written by Felix Horne, senior
Ethiopia researcher at Human Rights Watch. The Human Rights Watch analysis of
the situation is informed by 15 interviews with people who witnessed and lived
through the events of October 2, 2016, as well as hundreds of other interviews
with people caught up in violent government responses to protests across
Ethiopia in the past year.
Irreecha is
the most important cultural festival to Ethiopia’s 40 million ethnic Oromos who
gather to celebrate the end of the rainy season and welcome the harvest season.
Millions gather each year at Bishoftu,
40 kilometers southeast of Addis Ababa.
This week, people spoke of increased tension after year-long
protests in Oromia. There was an increased presence of armed security forces in
Bishoftu compared to previous years.
The government attempted to have a more visible role in the
festivities this year. The government and the Abba Gadaas, the council of Oromo
traditional leaders, held extensive negotiations about the arrangements for the
festival. At the festival, tensions within the massive crowd built when
government officials appeared on stage and even more so when the current Abba
Gadaas were not present on stage. Instead, a retired Abba Gadaa who is
perceived to be closely aligned with the government took to the stage.
A military helicopter flying low overhead increased public
concern about the government’s intentions, according to witnesses. Eventually,
a man went on stage and led the crowd in anti-government chants. The crowd grew
more restless, more people went on stage, and then security forces fired
teargas and people heard gunshots.
The security forces have used live ammunition while confronting
and attempting to disperse numerous public gatherings in Oromia for almost a
year. As Human Rights Watch has documented in
many of those protests, teargas preceded live ammunition, so when the pattern
seemed to be repeating itself at Irreecha, panic very quickly set in. People
ran and fell into nearby ditches, while others were trampled in the ensuring
chaos.
2.
The government said 50 people died, while
the opposition says 678.
Why is there such a disparity in the numbers?
The Ethiopian government makes it extremely difficult to
investigate these types of incidents. The government limits independent
media and restricts nongovernmental
organizations, both domestic and international, so that currently no one has
had the access, expertise or impartiality necessary to determine a precise,
credible death toll. Making things worse, over the last few days, the
government has restricted
internet access, as it has done intermittently throughout the
protests.
Based on the information from witnesses and hospital staff Human
Rights Watch has spoken to, it is clear that the number of dead is much higher
than government estimates. But without access to morgues and families who lost
loved ones, and with many people unwilling to speak for fear of reprisals, it
is impossible to come up with a credible total. Anecdotal reports from some
hospital staff indicate high numbers of dead, but they are also under pressure
to keep silent. There are numerous reports of medical staff not being permitted
to speak, or being pressured to underreport deaths. They may also have had
limited access to the bodies. During the last 12 months, Human Rights Watch hasdocumented
several arrests of medical staff for speaking out about
killings and beatings by security forces, or in some cases for treating injured
protesters.
All of this underscores the need for independent international
investigation to document who died and how they died in Bishoftu on October 2.
As a crowd-control method, teargas should be used only when
strictly necessary as a proportionate response to quell violence. International
guidelines, such as the United Nations
Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms, stipulate that the
police are expected to use discretion in crowd control tactics to ensure a
proportionate response to any threat of violence, and to avoid exacerbating the
situation. Police should exercise restraint when using teargas in situations
when its use could cause death or serious injury.
The witnesses all said the crowds were not violent, but they
were clearly protesting against the government. Witnesses said they believed
security forces fired guns into the crowd in addition to in the air but there
is thus far no corroborated evidence of people hit by gunfire – but
restrictions on access make it impossible to say for sure.
Based on the information Human Rights Watch has, it appears that
the security forces’ use of force was disproportionate. To the extent that this
force was used to disperse protests rather than in response to a perceived
threat posed by the crowds, it may also have constituted a violation of the
rights to free expression and assembly. The research leads us to the conclusion
that the security forces’ disproportionate response triggered the stampede that
resulted in so many deaths.
4.
Why is an independent, international investigation important?
Isn’t it the government’s responsibility to investigate?
Yes, ideally the Ethiopian government should investigate. In the
past, it has conducted investigations into alleged abuses by security forces
that were neither impartial nor credible. Ethiopia’s Human Rights Commission
presented an oral report to parliament in June about the protests over the last
year, saying the security force
response was in all cases proportionate to a threat posed by demonstrators. That
conclusion is contrary to the findings of Human Rights Watch and other independent
groups that have looked into recent events. It is very clear
that security forces consistently used live ammunition to disperse protests,
killing hundreds of people. The government’s findings have further increased
tensions, underscoring concerns protesters have voiced about lack of justice
and accountability.
The lack of credibility of government investigations into the
brutal crackdown and the scale of the crimes being committed are a compelling
argument for the need for an independent, international investigation into
those events and the events on October 2. Ethiopia’s international allies
should be pushing hard for this.
Despite growing calls from the EU and
from the UN’s most
important human rights official, the government has strongly
resisted the calls for international investigations. The government has a
history of resisting outside scrutiny of its rights record. Access has been
requested by 11 special procedures of the United Nations Human Rights Council
since 2007, and all were refused except for the special rapporteur on Eritrea.
On one hand the government wants to play a leadership role on the world stage,
as seen in its membership on the Human Rights
Council and the UN Security Council; but on the other it has
resisted any international involvement in its own affairs.
The government has been blaming “anti-peace
elements” for the deaths, which continues to increase the people’s
anger throughout Oromia. The government should instead allow an independent
investigation and then acknowledge and ensure accountability for any abuses
committed by its security forces. It should also demonstrate a commitment to
respecting human rights by creating a forum to listen to protesters’ grievances
in Oromia and other parts of Ethiopia. The protesters say that this is about
rights denied: security force killings, arrests and torture, economic
marginalization, and decades of
grievances. Recent protests and the ensuing violence are not about social media
trouble makers, or interference from neighboring Eritrea, as the
government often contends when abuses come to light.
6.
What are protesters telling Human Rights Watch about the
government response to the protests and about what they want now?
Over the last year, protesters have often told me that each
killing by security forces increased their anger and determination. And the
fear that was very present in Oromia and elsewhere in Ethiopia is dissipating.
Some protesters say they feel they have nothing left to lose. I hear from one
man each time he is released from detention. He has been arrested four times
during the protests, including once when he was held in a military camp. He
says he has never been charged with any crimes, has never seen a court room,
and has been beaten each time he has been detained. He told me that in the
military camp, soldiers stripped him down to his underwear, hung him upside
down and whipped him. His brother was killed in a protest, his father arrested,
and two of his closest friends have disappeared. I asked him why he keeps
protesting despite the risks, and he said: “We have nothing else to lose.
Better to go down standing up for our rights than end up dead, disappeared, or
in jail.” I hear similar statements from many protesters, particularly the
youth.
While the last year’s protests have been largely peaceful, more
and more people are telling me that approach has run its course, that when you
protest lawfully and peacefully and are met with bullets, arrests, and
beatings, and little is said or done internationally, there is little incentive
to continue that approach. Bekele Gerba,
a staunch advocate for non-violence and deputy-chairman of the main registered
opposition party in Oromia, is in detention and is on trial under the
antiterrorism law. Treating those who advocate or engage in non-violent acts as
criminals or terrorists sends a very dangerous message.
It seems clear that force will not suppress the protesters’ movement
and has in fact emboldened it. When the government is willing to tolerate the
free expression of dissent, allow peaceful assemblies, and engage in a genuine
dialogue with protesters, it will help to end this crisis.
Most of the several hundred protesters interviewed in depth over
the past year have a lengthy list of people close to them who have been
arrested, killed, or disappeared, in addition to their own trauma. Older people
have similar lists going back many years. Ethiopia needs accountability to
rebuild trust with its citizens. The government has had numerous chances to
make concessions and address protesters’ concerns. At those times when it has
done so, as in January when it cancelled the master plan that
ignited the initial protests, the action was taken far too late and done in a
way that protesters did not consider credible.
In terms of immediate steps, the government should permit
peaceful protests, ensure that no protests are met with excessive force,
release those arbitrarily detained, and address grievances including ensuring
respect for freedom of assembly, expression and association. This is what we
have heard from the hundreds of protesters we have interviewed in the last
year.
8.
What should Ethiopia’s key international allies, such as the US,
UK and EU, do to help ensure improved human rights in Ethiopia?
For too long Ethiopia’s major international partners have not
adequately raised serious concerns about the complete closure of political
space in Ethiopia that has led to an inability to express dissent. At this
point they need to take urgent action to ensure that the situation does not
further spiral out of control. They should push for an independent
international investigation. They should push for those arbitrarily detained to
be released. And they should reiterate in the strongest way that lawful peaceful
protests should be allowed to occur without the threat of bullets and mass
arrests. They have leverage, and they should use it more effectively.
For more background:
On Ethiopia’s general human rights situation, see 2016 World
Report on Ethiopia
On the human rights abuses during the Oromo protest, see “Such a Brutal
Crackdown”(2016)
On Ethiopia’s repressive media environment, see “Journalism is
Not a Crime” (2015)
On the history of abuses in Oromia, see “Suppressing
Dissent, Human Rights Abuses and Political repression in Ethiopia’s Oromia
Region” (2005) and Amnesty International’s 2014 report
On torture in Ethiopia, see “They Want a
Confession”
On the need for an international investigation into the
crackdowns, see “Ethiopia’s
Bloody Crackdown: The Case for International Justice”
Source: Human Right Watch
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