Claiming Human Rights – in Ethiopia
Claiming Human Rights – in Ethiopia The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is a member of the United Nations and the African Union. It has ratified many UN Human Rights Conventions (compare list on the right) and thus has made binding international commitments to adhere to the standards laid down…
ETHIOPIA: Arrests and Detentions of Oromo Students Continued
While fresh arrests and detentions, kidnappings and disappearances of Oromo nationals have continued in different parts of the regional state of Oromo following the April-May crackdown of peaceful demonstrators, court rulings over the cases of some of the earlier detainees by courts of the regional state are being rejected by…
Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA)
26th Session of United Nations Human Rights Council Geneva, Palais des Nations, Presented By :Garoma B. Wakessa : Executive Director of HRLHA June 19, 2014 Ethiopia: Gross Violations of Human Rights and an intractable conflict Introduction: It is common in democratic countries around the world for people to express their…
United Nations Human Rights Council 26th Session, Geneva, Switzerland
Statement for Oral Presentation, June 16, 2014 By Mr. Garoma Wakessa, Executive Director, Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) Agenda Item 3: Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development – Ethiopia Thank You, Mr. Chairman,…
Ethiopia: Nine Journalists and Bloggers Denied Bail
Reporters Sans Frontières (PRESS RELEASE) Three journalists and six bloggers who have been held for the past five months were denied bail by a federal court in Addis Ababa on the 20th of August, 2014 after the prosecution argued that article 3 of the 2009 anti-terrorism law, under which they…
Endless Injustices – At the Centre of Discussion at OSA 28th
(HRLHA – NEWSREPORT) The denial of justice, absence of fair treatment and equality among the various nations and nationalities in Ethiopia have been the major themes and focuses of presentations and discussions at the 28th OSA Annual Conference held from August 2nd to 3rd at Howard University in Washington D.C….
Put Democratic Ethics on the Agenda for the African Leaders’ Summit
(Freedom House) As next month’s U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington approaches and the Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI) rapidly ramps up to scale, the Obama administration’s focus on the importance of leadership in Africa is evident. Its main message is that trade, investment in Africa, and entrepreneurship are vital. While…
BBC condemns Ethiopian broadcast jamming
(BBC) The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has condemned the jamming of its broadcasts by the Ethiopian Government. Liliane Landor, acting Director of the BBC World Service Group, has called on the Ethiopian authorities to stop jamming BBC broadcasts in the Middle East and North Africa. Mrs. Landor joined directors from…
Short Speech at the Oromo Nation Demonstration in Washington DC, Garoma B. Wakessa HRLHA Executive Director May 9, 2014
Ladies and Gentlemen: I am standing in front of you to condemn the mass killings perpetuated by the TPLF- led Ethiopian government security forces against the Oromo University students and other innocent people that occurred during the past two weeks and that are still happening. In different parts of…
Short Speech at the Oromo Nation Demonstration in Washington DC, Garoma B. Wakessa HRLHA Executive Director May 9, 2014
Ladies and Gentlemen: I am standing in front of you to condemn the mass killings perpetuated by the TPLF- led Ethiopian government security forces against the Oromo University students and other innocent people that occurred during the past two weeks and that are still happening. In different parts of…
The State of Human Rights of Refugees in The Horn of Africa: Case of Oromo Refugees
Field Report Garoma Bekele Wakessa Table Contents Pages I. Introduction ———————————————————————————————– 3 1.1. Problem of Statement ————————————————————————— 4 2. Refugee and Human Rights ————————————————————————– 6 2.1 Refugee: Meaning and Cause ——————————————————————— 6 2.1.1 Meaning ————————————————————————————- 6 2.1.2 Cause —————————————————————————————- 6 2.2 The Rights of Refugees —————————————————————————- 7…
Ethiopia: ‘Special Police’ Execute 10
May 28, 2012, Nairobi (Human Rights Watch) – An Ethiopian government-backed paramilitary force summarily executed 10 men during a March 2012 operation in Ethiopia’s eastern Somali region. Detailed information on the killings and other abuses by the force known as the “Liyu police” only came to light after a Human…
VOA Reporter Peter Heinlein Detained in Ethiopia
Posted Friday, May 25th, 2012 at 3:40 pm A Voice of America reporter has been detained in the Ethiopian capital while trying to cover a demonstration Friday. Witnesses to the arrest told VOA that reporter Peter Heinlein and his translator Simegineh Yekoye were detained while seeking to interview protesters during…
Ethiopia Muslims Tortured Over Ahbashism: woman dies after torture
May 25, 2012, ADDIS ABABA (OnIslam) – Ethiopian Muslim activists are reporting torture and abuses by security forces over growing opposition to an alleged government campaign to indoctrinate the community with Ahbashism campaign. “An Ethiopian activist died after being tortured by electric shock and inhumane acts by government security forces,”…
Ethiopia – Persistent Perpetrations to Maintain Grip on Power
HRLHA Urgent Action, October 7, 2011 HRLHA is highly concerned about the stability and wellbeing of the elderly, the very young, and those who were made homeless following the violent and bloody clash between Oromos and the Gumuz ethnic group (for the second time in three years) from September 22…
Kidnappings and Disappearances of University Students
Ethiopia – HRLHA Urgent Action and Appeal Public – August 8, 2011, It has been a nightmare for families that the whereabouts of their children is not known since the end of the school year of 2011. Among Oromo students left their campuses up on the closure of the Universities…
Save the Date: Ethiopia’s Stalled Democracy and a Spotlight on the Ogaden
HRLHA, On 7 December 2010 Ms Ana Gomes MEP will convene a hearing, ‘Ethiopia’s Stalled Democracy: A Spotlight on the Ogaden’ in Room ASP3H1 of the European Parliament in Brussels from 16.15–18.15 in collaboration with UNPO and African Rights Monitor FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Nov 26, 2010 – Brussels – Just…
The Torture Victim exposes the Ethiopian Government’s inhuman treatment against its Citizens
Mr. Hussein Osman, a torture victim and an Oromo national, in an oral statement he presented at the 45th UN Committee Against Torture at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland on Tuesday, November 2,2010 explained he was tortured because of his different political believe; and consequently paralyzed by EPRDF/TPLF…
Ethiopia: Donor Aid Supports Repression
Contributors Should Review Development Programs, Monitor Use of Funds London) – The Ethiopian government is using development aid to suppresspolitical dissent by conditioning access to essential government programs on support for the ruling party, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Human Rights Watch urged foreign donors to…
Exodus of Youth from Zenawi’s Ethiopia through Kenyan Border: NTV Kenya Investigates
Hundreds of young people, who face political repression and economic destitution in Ethiopia, flee through the Kenyan border each week in search of better lives. Journalist Yasin Juma of NTV Kenya goes undercover to investigate as the emigrants seeking safe refuge cross the border into Kenya. The Kenyan authorities continue to…
FROM MAIKELAWI TO KALITI – Bekele Jirata Tells the Plight of Oromo Political Prisoners under Zenawi’s Regime
Mr. Bekele Jirata, Former Secretary General of OFDM and Former Prisoner of Conscience under the Ethiopian regime of Meles Zenawi The following is a first-hand account of the plight of Oromo political prisoners under the Ethiopian regime of Meles Zenawi as told by Mr. Bekele…
Western Ethiopia’s Gambella region faces risks head-on
GAMBELLA, 13 September 2010 (IRIN) – Officials in Ethiopia’s western Gambella Region have scored conflict and erratic rainfall a dead certainty this year, potentially affecting more than 150,000 people. Floods and disease outbreaks are likely too: rated four out of five (where five is certain). Far from being a cause…
ETHIOPIA: Pastoralism against the odds
JIJIGA, 2 September 2010 (IRIN) – Pastoralists’ disproportionate contribution to Ethiopia’s economy is belied by their marginalized status and by policy assumptions that they would be better off farming. But those who raise livestock tend to make the most of marginal land, according to experts, and are often proficient at…
ERITREA/ETHIOPIA , Ethiopia: Beware of Those Bearing Olive Branches!
“Beware of Greeks bearing gifts,” goes the old saying. I say beware of those bearing fake olive branches. In many societies, “extending an olive branch” symbolizes an act of reconciliation, goodwill and peace. In ancient Greece and Rome, people gave each other olive branches as tokens of their intention to…
UN Human Rights Committee to review Ethiopia
The United Nations Human Rights Committee opened its 99th Session in Geneva and will address the human rights situation of Ethiopia Despite supporting four Ethiopian partner organisations to submit their joint report and participate in Geneva at last year’s Universal Periodic Review of their own country, the Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF)…
