Ethiopia: NGO Report on the Follow-up to the Concluding Observations

ETHIOPIA
Follow Up Report
(African Rights Monitor)
(as of:13 February 2013) / CCPR/C/ETH/CO/1
July2011 (adoption of the Concluding Observations)
July2012 (Deadlines for the follow-up report)
Current Status: Follow-up report from the State Party (due July 2012) not yet submitted
Recommendation 16 / Grade / Overview
The State party should put a stop to the serious human rights violations being committed in the Somali Regional State of Ethiopia by members of the police and army, including murder, rape, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, torture, destruction of property, forced displacement, attacks on the civilian population, and apprehension of foreign journalists. / C / Serious Human rights violations are still continuing. The state refuses to allow the ICRC and human rights groups to enter the Ogaden, let alone visit the prisons. The rural population is still being forced to leave areas designated for oil exploration.
It should effectivelyinvestigate all allegations of such violations, prosecute the alleged perpetrators, and if convicted, punish them with appropriate sanctions. Victims should be assured of access to effective remedies, including adequate compensation. / C / Ill-treatment of detainees is rampant. Torture, rape, humiliation and executions in the prisons happen on a routine basis.
Recommendation 17 / Grade / Overview
The State party should guarantee that all allegations of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment are effectively investigated, the alleged perpetrators prosecuted, and if convicted, punished with appropriate sanctions. Victims should have access to effective remedies and adequate reparation. / C / So far, the government has not allowed anyone to conduct a credible independent investigation of all reported violations. Victims are often forced to humiliated themselves on TV by claiming they are criminals and some of them were even forced to say that they raped animals or their own people and request.
The State party should also improve the training of State agents in this regard, in order to ensure that all persons who are arrested or held in custody are treated with respect. / C / In practice state agents are rewarded on the basis of how vicious they are.
Recommendation 25 / Grade / Overview
The State party should revise its legislation to ensure that any limitations on the right to freedom of association and assembly are in strict compliance with articles 21 and 22 of the Covenant. / C / No revision was made by the state on this issue
It should reconsider the funding restrictions on local NGOs in the light of the Covenant and it should authorize them to work in the field of human rights. It should not discriminate against NGOs that have members who resideoutside of its borders. / C / The restriction on NGOs is still in force

Grade A: Implementation satisfactory

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Ethiopia: NGO Report on the Follow-up to the Concluding Observations

A1: Response fully satisfactory

A2: Response largely satisfactory

Grade B: Implementation partially satisfactory:

B1: Implementation partially satisfactory: progress made, but need for additional information

B2: Implementation partially satisfactory: progress made, but additional action required

Grade C: Response not satisfactory

C: No action taken by the State Party to implement the recommendation

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Ethiopia: NGO Report on the Follow-up to the Concluding Observations

Paragraph 16

The Committee notes with concern the numerous reports received about serious human rights violations committed in the Somali Regional State of Ethiopia by membersof the police and the army, including murder, rape, enforced disappearance, arbitrarydetention, torture, destruction of property, forced displacement and attacks on the civilian population, as well as the recent reports of apprehension of foreign journalists in the region. The Committee is also concerned at the lack of cases in which perpetrators of serious crimes have been prosecuted and punished and by the refusal of the State party to have an independent inquiry on the situation (arts. 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 12).

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Ethiopia: NGO Report on the Follow-up to the Concluding Observations

The State party should put a stop to such violations and ensure that all allegations of such violations are effectively investigated, that the alleged perpetrators are prosecuted and, if convicted, punished with appropriate sanctions, and that the victims have access to effective remedies, including adequate reparation.

Recommendations from the HR Committee / Grade / Action taken by the State / Additional measures needed / Other comments
The State party should put a stop to the serious human rights violations committed in the Somali Regional State of Ethiopia by members of the police and army, including murder, rape, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, torture, destruction of property, forced displacement, attacks on the civilian population, and apprehension of foreign journalists in the region. / C / No action taken. Serious human rights violations continue to occur. / The latest statistics that reached ARM for 2012 are612 civilian detentions, including the elderly, women and children; 68 summary executions, 39 women raped outside prisons. Estimated total civilian detainees are about 18, 000 of which women comprise about 6000 and as reported by inmates of those prisons, the first act against women is to rape them and humiliate them in front of all.
The rural population is still being forced to leave areas designated for oil exploration. On January 27, 2013, the regional administration claimed that it has released more than 850 prisoners, who it claimed had accepted the constitution and regrated being anti-peace. See regional state webpage:
The State party should ensure that all allegations of such violations are effectively investigated, that the alleged perpetrators are prosecuted and, if convicted, punished with appropriate sanctions, and that the victims have access to effective remedies, including adequate compensation. / C / Ill-treatment of detainees remains common. Torture, rape, humiliation and executions in the prisons happen on a routine basis. Relatives of prisoners are forced to provide food for detainees, and are not informed of the death of prisoners by the guards, so that they continue to bring food. Information about the deaths of detainees is relayed to relatives by released detainees.
The prison guards often use food as a weapon to break down detainees.

Paragraph 17

The Committee notes with concern numerous reports suggesting that torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatments are widespread in the State party and used against detainees by the police, prison officers and military, especially with regard to alleged members of armed insurgent groups active in certain regions of Ethiopia (the SomaliRegional State and the Oromia Regional State of Ethiopia). Moreover, perpetrators reportedly very often go unpunished (arts. 2, 6, and 7).

The State party should (a) guarantee that all allegations of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment are effectively investigated, and that the alleged perpetrators are prosecuted and, if convicted, punished with appropriate sanctions, and that the victims have access to effective remedies and adequate reparation; (b) improve the training of State agents in this regard, in order to ensure that all persons who are arrested or held in custody are treated with respect; and (c) in its next report, provide disaggregated data on all allegations of torture.

Recommendations from the HR Committee / Grade / Action taken by the State / Additional measures needed / Other comments
The State party should guarantee that all allegations of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment are effectively investigated, the alleged perpetrators prosecuted, and if convicted, punished with appropriate sanctions, as well as ensure the victims access to effective remedies and adequate reparation. / C / No action taken. So far, the government has not allowed anyone to conduct a credible independent investigation of all reported violations. / Many victims are brought in front of TV cameras and forced to humiliated themselves by claiming they are criminals and some of them are even forced to say that they raped animals or their own people and request clemency in front of TV watched by international audiences. A Somali channel called Universal TV and the newly started Somali region TV constantly beams programs where detainees humiliate themselves.
The State party should improve the training of State agents in this regard, in order to ensure that all persons who are arrested or held in custody are treated with respect. / C / Although the Ethiopian state claims that it trains its state agents, in reality, they are rewarded on the basis of how vicious they are. Recent footage smuggled by a former staff who worked for the Somali region information bureau shows the security chief assessing members of the staff on their level of cruelty
The State party should provide disaggregated data on all allegations of torture / C

Paragraph 25

The Committee is concerned by the provisions of the Proclamation on Charities and Societies No.621/2009, which prohibits Ethiopian NGOs from obtaining more than 10 per cent of their budget from foreign donors, and at the same time, prohibits the NGOs considered by the State party to be foreign, from engaging in human rights and democracy related activities. This legislation impedes the realisation of the freedom of association and assembly as illustrated by the fact that many NGOs and professional associations were not authorized to register under the new Proclamation or had to change their area of activity. (arts. 21 and 22)

The State party should revise its legislation to ensure that any limitations on the right to freedom of association and assembly are in strict compliance with articles 21 and 22 of the Covenant, and in particular it should reconsider the funding restrictions on local NGOs in the light of the Covenant and it should authorize all NGOs to work in the field of human rights. The State party should not discriminate against NGOs that have some members who reside outside of its borders.

Recommendations from the HR Committee / Grade / Action taken by the State / Additional measures needed / Other comments
The State party should revise its legislation to ensure that any limitations on the right to freedom of association and assembly are in strict compliance with articles 21 and 22 of the Covenant. / C /
  1. No action has been taken.

It should reconsider the funding restrictions on local NGOs in the light of the Covenant and it should authorize them to work in the field of human rights. It should not discriminate against NGOs that have members who reside outside of its borders. / C / No action has been taken. The restrictions on NGOs remain in place.

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