“We presume that some good jobs have been done; but, still there is lot to be done.”
The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) would like to extend its warmest greetings of the holiday season and the best wishes of the new years to all of those who are engaged in advocating and defending human rights, all sister organizations and humanitarian agencies who have been encouraging the HRLHA in different ways; and to its supporters, HRLHA board and staff members, as well as its dedicated volunteers working in the Horn of Africa countries.
Saying goodbye to the year 2010, it is very good to welcome the new year of 2011. What is not good is that the expectations and the feelings with which we welcome this New Year is not uniform all over the world. Millions of people in the Horn of Africa are spending the holidays away from their homes and families in places like prisons, detention/concentration centres, refugee camps, in temporary shelters, etc. In almost all cases and situations, those millions of people are subjected to various forms of human rights abuses including extrajudicial apprehensions and detentions (as recently seen in Nairobi, Kenya), abductions, torture, extra- judicial killings, homelessness, social isolations, poverty, etc. In most cases, the causes are civil wars, political suppressions, economic discriminations, or the combinations of these all. As we have witnessed in the past ten or so years, hundreds of thousands of people in Somalia have been killed in the civil war among the warlords. Hundreds of thousands have fled the country because of the civil war. In the past eighteen years, thousands of people of varying ages in Ethiopian have been spending most of their lives in prisons in the most torturous prison situations simply because the held differing political opinions from the ruling party. Hundreds of thousands have left everything behind and fled to neighboring countries seeking safety for their lives. Again, the recent situation in Nairobi, Kenya being a case in point, the refuge life in neighbouring countries too has never been smooth. Although much is expected from the outcomes of the upcoming referendum in South Sudan, the human rights situation in Darfur/Sudan is still not improved. In Eritrea, many people, including journalists, are still in prison without charge. As hinted at above, Kenya has become the worst place for refugees. Many have become victims of severe police crackdown with no clue as to when it is going to stop.
As a result of these all injustices, maladministrations, and internal conflicts, in the past two decades, the Horn of Africa has experienced the highest number of casualties than any other region in the world. Apart from the Southern Sudan referendum, which is going to take place after decades of bloodshed and cost of millions of human lives, no efforts are being made to bring those civil strife and the resultant human miseries to an end. Particularly internal political instabilities and continued civil crackdowns (such as the ones in Ethiopia) are completely ignored by the international communities.
What is more, countries of the Horn have developed similar attitudes towards asylum seekers who usually come from neighboring countries in search of protection. In violation of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Articles 13 and 14, which guarantee the freedom of movement and the right to seek, obtain and enjoy asylum in other countries, these Horn of African countries fail to protect fundamental human rights of the asylum seekers in their territories. They instead intimidate asylum seekers by denying them even shelters and, in some cases, apprehending, detaining, and often handing them over to the governments of their countries of origin. HRLHA calls on HORN of Africa Leaders to do all within their power to comply with the many conventions and covenants (regional and international) that promote and uphold positive human rights values. Also, HRLHA calls up on all international human rights organizations and other NGOs to co-operate with HRLHA in advocating and defending human rights.
Another big current issue particularly in Ethiopia (as indeed is the case in many African countries) is the land grab and the resultant displacement of local farmers without consents, compensations, and/or replacements. Governments lease lands to foreign governments and transnational companies often at bargain prices. These arrangements, which are leaving local farmers with no alternatives, are in no way for the benefit of the displaced villagers; but for the enrichment of individuals in the government and the leaseholders. Adding insult to injury, those foreign governments and companies who lease the land are bringing workers along with them from their respective countries to work on the land; denying the local farmers even the opportunity to work on the “industrialized” farms as laborers. Displacing local farmers and leasing lands has continued unabated, despite wide media coverage and strong criticism by local, regional and international human rights organizations, including HRLHA, and other concerned bodies.
In the face of such widespread and ever deepening political and socio-economic crises, HRLHA’s main objective would be establishing strong partnership with other similar organizations in order to strengthen its efforts of advocating and defending human rights. In the past three years, HRLHA’s head office has worked closely with other regional and international human rights organizations who work on those Horn of African countries. Apart from networking and corresponding with those organizations for purposes of information dissemination, we have been able to develop relationships with the head offices of UN Human Rights Council, the UNHCR, the EU Human Rights Council, and with many other governmental and non-governmental human rights agencies and offices.
It is very unfortunate that the human rights situations in most parts of the world including the Horn of Africa are never improving; and the task for human rights defenders is getting bigger and bigger. This requires all human rights agencies and their staff members to be more committed and prepared to do more. Looking ahead to 2011, HRLHA will be working towards materializing its current objectives, and explore opportunities for new once. We believe our operation in the Horn of Africa needs be wider, deeper and stronger as long as the violators of human rights continue their impunity against humanity. Therefore, for the year 2011, we need more commitments and dedication to be made by all members and supporters. In its three years operations under a very difficult situation in the past, HRLHA has confirmed and proved it to others that our ideas can be translated in to practice and can produce results that could make a difference in the lives of the targeted defenseless peoples. We look forward to continuing with a quick march for similar causes in the year 2011. To this end, we need to renew our promises to ourselves once again to go ahead with courage.
We wish you and your family a healthy, peaceful, and successful new year!
“We fight for Human Rights”
Garoma Wakessa – Executive Director
December 31, 2010
