Stop violations of human rights!

Stop violations of human rights!

የወያኔ መሪዎችና ተሿሚዎች በየግላቸው ምንም ቁብ በማይሰጡትና ተቃዋሚዎች እንዲያከብሩት ነጋ ጠባ በሚወተውቱት የአገሪቱ ህገመንግሥት አንቀጽ 29 ዕውቅና ካገኙ የዜግች መብቶች አንዱ ሃሳብን በነጻነት የመግለጽ ተፈጥሮአዊ መብት ሆኖ ሳለ እየተካሄደ ያለውን የሥልጣን ብልግናና አገሪቱን እያራቆተ ያለውን ዘረፋ በመተቸታቸው ብቻ በአንድ ወቅት እንደ አሸን ፈልተው የነበሩ የነጻ ጋዜጣ አዘጋጆችና አሳታሚዎች በሽብርተኝነት ተወንጅለው ከፊሉ ከአገር እንዲሸሽ ሌላው አፉን ዘግቶ እንዲቀመጥ አለያም የፈጠራ ክስ እየተመሰረተባቸው እስር ቤት እንዲማቅቁ ተደርገዋል። አሁንም ብሎገሮች፤የግል ድረ ገጽ ጎብኚዎችም ጭምር ለአደጋ በመዳረግ ላይ ናቸው ። በወያኔ ሃሳብን በነጻነት የመግለጽና የዜጎች መረጃ የማግኘት መብት አፈና የአሜሪካና የጀርመን መንግሥታት በየግላቸው የሚያስተዳድሩዋቸው የአሜሪካና የጀርመን ድምጽ ሬዲዮኖች እንኳ ከጥቃቱ ማምለጥ ስላልቻሉ እነሆ እስከዛሬ ያልተቋረጠ የማጥላላት ዘመቻ ይካሄድባቸዋል። እኛ ላይ እንደለመደው  ከሃገሪቱም አልፎ ቢቢሲ ፥ዶችቬሌ ፤የፈረንሳዩ ዩቴልሳት በአረብ ሳት በኩል ለምስራቅ አፍሪካ ሃገራት  ፕሮግራም የሚያስተላልፉበትን  የአየር ሞገድ በቅርቡ አፍኗል። ።ከዚህ በላይ ጨቋኝነት ምን አለ? ለማንኛውም መሰረታዊ የሆኑትን የመናገር ና የመሰብሰብ መብቶች ጥሰትን ታግለን መንግስትን ህጉን እንዲያከብር እናስገድደው ወይ እናስወግደው።

1. Freedom of expression is violated

Article 29 of the Ethiopian Constitution provides the right to hold opinions and freedom of expression.  Manifestations of curtailment of freedom of expression include severe restrictions on the independent media, which has been systematically targeted over many years, with journalists and editors harassed, arrested and prosecuted on criminal charges. Among other things, this situation has severely hampered the media’s ability to criticize the government and to report or comment on human rights concerns in the country, particularly on the government’s human rights record.

One can divide the Private press era in Ethiopia into three. According to the Ministry of Information 385 publications, comprising 265 newspapers and 120 magazines were registered between October 1992 and July 1997. That was the first booming time. The second period, 1997-2005, saw the establishment of professionally and politically integrated newspapers like Menlik ,Netsanet,Ethop, Addis Zena,Satenaw, Meyisaw,Seife Nebelbal and  Meznagna.

The last period goes from 2005 when press freedom again came under threat after editors and more than 15 journalists were imprisoned and persecuted after alleged transgressions following the May 2005 election.

The time onwards is the worst that freedom of expression is officially violated. Journalists such as Eskinder Nega,Reeyot Alemu, Wubshet Tayye, party members Andualem Aragae,Bekele Gerba etc are persecuted as a result recently.

 

Since 2011, over 100 journalists and political opposition members are arrested and prosecuted on charges of terrorism and other offences, including treason, for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association. The actions that were the basis for such charges and prosecutions included writing articles critical of the government, calling for peaceful protest and reporting on peaceful protests.

 

INTERNET FREEDOM :-A wide range of national and international news websites, blogs, and sites of national and international human rights organizations are inaccessible in Ethiopia. According to the Independent assessments by Ethiopian Human Resource Council/EHRCO undertaken in early 2012 uncovered that 65 websites related to news   and views, 14 websites belonging to different Ethiopian political parties, 37 blogs, 7 audio-video websites, and 37 Facebook pages are not accessible in Ethiopia.

In addition to mentioning the  blocked sites of diasporra medias such as Addis Neger, Nazret, Ethiopian Review, CyberEthiopia, Quatero Amharic Magazine, Tensae Ethiopia, and the Ethiopian Media Forum, websites of patriotic front,OLF,Ginbot7 , The United States annual report of 2013 http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2013/af/220113.htm

also condemned the espionage of citizens living in another country by the only internet service provider Ethio telecom. The report referring Citizen Lab investigations suggested the FinFisher software the Ethiopian rulers bought to spy citizens “has gained notoriety because it has been used in targeted attacks against human rights campaigners and opposition activists in countries with questionable human rights records.  A ‘FinSpy’ campaign in the country allegedly used pictures of Ginbot 7, an Ethiopian opposition group, as bait to infect users” said the US report.

Telecom authorities in Ethiopia took steps to block access to Virtual Private Network providers that let users circumvent government screening of internet browsing and e-mail.

Proclamation 761/2012 on Telecom Fraud Offences adopted by the Ethiopian Parliament in July 2012, creates unprecedented obstacles on expression rights through bringing contemporary means of electronic communication within the state’s ambit to limit severely freedom of expression. While the stated intention of the draft proclamation is to control “telecom fraud” described as a “serious threat to national security beyond economic losses,” ambiguous language contained in the law provides government officials with a convenient tool to clampdown on anyone critical of the dominant political discourse.

Notably, the draft proclamation seeks to restrict freedom of expression by punishing the dissemination of any “terrorising message” connected with a crime punishable under the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation 2009.

2. Freedom of assembly is violated

Article 30 of the Ethiopian Constitution protects the right of assembly, demonstration and petition stating “everyone has the right to assemble and to demonstrate together with others peaceably and unarmed, and to petition.” Furthermore, Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Ethiopia is party, guarantees the freedom of peaceful assembly. However, these rights are severely undermined by a combination of legislative and extra-legal measures taken by the Ethiopian Government, further imperiling freedom of assembly. Until the death of the dictator Meles Zenawi no one was allowed to demonstrate following the 2005 election. Even if the newly assembled fake puppet Minster allows assembly, it is full of obstacles.

ከመርፌ ቀዳዳ አጥብቦ ለሚሰጠን ሰላማዊ ሰልፍ የማድረግ መብታችን ሰው ለሰላማዊ ሰልፍ ሲቀሰቀሱ የነበሩትን ማሰሩ በተጨማሪም የሰልፍ አቅጣጫን ቀይሩ ብሎ ማገቱ በቅርብ የሰማያዊ እና የ አንድነት ፓርቲ አባላትና ሰልፈኞች ላይ የተደረገ ህገወጥነት ነው።

Government security forces routinely used disproportionate, excessive and lethal force to disperse demonstrations across the country. Furthermore, on several occasions, Ethiopian activists were subject to arbitrary arrest and detention for organizing or participating in nonviolent protests in the country.

Opposition groups attempting to hold demonstrations have also been subjected to unwarranted interference, including mass arrests. On 16 July 2013 at least 40 members of the opposition Unity for Democracy and Justice Party (UDJ) were arrested in the capital, Addis Ababa. The arrests occurred as UDJ party members publicly distributed pamphlets encouraging people to sign a petition calling for the release of imprisoned activists. Ethiopians assembled in front of Saudi Arabia embassy in Addis Ababa to ask ‘’Stop killings of Ethiopians in Saudi “were chased by police on 15 November 2013. That clearly shows how the EPRDF is a colonial power ruling Ethiopians in favor of another country.

A number of legislative restrictions also exist that in practice infringe on the free exercise of the right to assembly. Article 3 of the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation criminalizes public demonstrations by equating “serious interference or disruption of public services” with acts of terrorism. This provision leaves the term ‘serious disruption,’ open to broad interpretation and makes illegal disruption of transport services caused by demonstrations.

Moreover, under Proclamation No.3/1991, the Proclamation to Establish the Procedure for the Peaceful Demonstration and Public Political Meeting, organizers must secure permission from the authorities 48 hours in advance of any planned protest. However, applications by opposition groups are routinely denied.

Requests 

Regarding restrictions on freedom of expression

• The government should create an enabling environment for independent media by reinstating newspapers forced to close in Ethiopia;
• Proclamation 761/2012 on Telecom Fraud Offences, which brings social media under the ambit of the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation, should be repealed;
• Unfettered access to online information resources should be allowed by removing restrictions on access to national and international news websites and social media outlets and the websites of civil society organizations.

Regarding restrictions on freedom of assembly:

• All journalists, demonstrators and human rights defenders detained for exercising their freedom of assembly should be unconditionally and immediately released.
• Their cases should be reviewed to prevent further harassment;
• Restrictions on public demonstrations found under article 3 of the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation criminalizing “serious interference or disruption of public services” must be removed;
• Provisions under Proclamation No. 3/1991 - Proclamation to Establish the Procedure for the Peaceful Demonstration and Public Political Meeting – requiring individuals and groups to secure approval from the government to hold demonstrations should be repealed.

Stop violating human rights in general!!!