The UN Office of the
High Commissioner(OHCHR) [official website] on Wednesday urged[press
release] Ethiopian authorities to end the violence against peaceful protesters.
These attacks by Ethiopian authorities have reportedly led to over 600 deaths
in the past year. In response to this violence, the UN has called for an
international commission and have requested that the Ethiopian government allow
for them to investigate the protests and the violent tactics used against the
peaceful demonstrators. Experts claim that there have been numerous allegations
of mass killings and disappearances, thousands of protesters injured and tens
of thousands arrested. There is also concern that many of those arrested have
faced torture and ill-treatment in military detention centers. Another main
concern is the use of national security and counter-terrorism legislation to
target individuals who are exercising their rights to peaceful assembly.
Protests began
a year ago [UN News
Centre report] in response to the Government's plan to expand certain
boundaries displacing farmers, along with the annexation of Konso Wereda into
the Segen Arae Peoples Zone.
The
conflict between the Ethiopian government and protestors has been widespread.
Tensions increased over the past week when at least 55 were killed in clashes
between police and protesters at a festival. Last month Ethiopia's opposition
leader and leader of the Oromo ethnic group, Tiruneh Gamta, demanded
the release of all political prisoners [JURIST report] "regardless of
any political stand or religion or creed." The Oromo ethnic group,
representing the largest group among the protesters, is largely credited with
starting the protests last November when the government announced its plan to
expand the capital into the Oromia region. Although the Oromos initially
started protesting against what they viewed as a plan to remove them from
fertile land in the region, the protests started taking on a different theme
even as the government dropped its plan to expand the capital—one calling
for the release of political prisoners [Al Jazeera report]. According to
rights groups, at least 500 people have been killed and thousands arrested
since the unrest began. In January several Ethiopian rights groups called on
the international community to address
the killing [JURIST
report] of protesters.
Source: JURIST
No comments:
Post a Comment