Human Rights Watch's Analysis of Ethiopia's Draft CSO Law
This updated analysis from Human Rights Watch discusses the most recent version of Ethiopia's Draft CSO Law. The draft law's main aim is to strictly regulate, with severe penalties for non-compliance, all civil society organizations in Ethiopia.
October 13, 2008 Written Statement
Ethiopia: Draft Law Threatens Civil Society
Donor Governments Should Condemn Assault on Rights
Ethiopia’s parliament should reject a draft law that would criminalize human rights activity and seriously undermine civil society groups, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch called on donor governments to speak out publicly against the bill, which is expected to be introduced in parliament this month.
October 13, 2008 Press Release
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More Blowback from the War on Terror
The U.S.-backed Ethiopian military has secreted away scores of "suspects" – including pregnant women and children – and fueled anti-American rancor in Africa.
By Jennifer Daskal, senior counterterrorism counsel
Published in Salon
Ishmael is a victim of a 2007 rendition program in the Horn of Africa, involving Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and the United States. There are at least 90 more victims like him. Most have since been sent home. A few – including a Canadian and nine who assert Kenyan nationality – remain in detention even now. The whereabouts of 22 others – including several Somalis, Ethiopian Ogadenis, and Eritreans--remain unknown.
October 1, 2008 Commentary
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"Why Am I Still Here?"
The 2007 Horn of Africa Renditions and the Fate of Those Still Missing
 | This 54-page report examines the 2007 rendition operation, during which at least 90 men, women, and children fleeing the armed conflict in Somalia were unlawfully rendered from Kenya to Somalia, and then on to Ethiopia. The report documents the treatment of several men still in Ethiopian custody, as well as the previously unreported experiences of recently released detainees, several of whom described being brutally tortured. Update: Two days after this report was issued, eight of the ten rendition victims remaining in Ethiopian jails were released to Kenya.
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HRW Index No.: 1-56432-380-3
October 1, 2008 Report
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Ethiopia/Kenya: Account for Missing Rendition Victims
Secret Detainees Interrogated by US Officials Are Still in Custody
Two days after this report was issued, eight of the ten rendition victims known to be in Ethiopian jails were released to Kenya. The whereabouts of 22 others remains unknown.
At least 10 victims of the 2007 Horn of Africa rendition program still languish in Ethiopian jails and the whereabouts of several others is unknown. Several of the detained men were interrogated by US officials in Addis Ababa soon after they were secretly transferred from Kenya to Somalia, and then to Ethiopia in early 2007.
October 1, 2008 Press Release
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Ethiopia: Government Prepares Assault on Civil Society
Repressive New Legislation Should Be Amended or Scrapped
Ethiopia’s government should immediately abandon plans to impose strict government controls and draconian criminal penalties on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said today. The two groups called on donor governments, whose behind-the-scenes efforts to see the bill reformed appear to have failed, to speak out publicly against the de facto criminalization of most of the human rights, rule of law and peace-building work currently being carried out in Ethiopia.
June 30, 2008 Press Release
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Ethiopia: Army Commits Executions, Torture, and Rape in Ogaden
Donors Should Act to Stop Crimes Against Humanity
In its battle against rebels in eastern Ethiopia's Somali Region, Ethiopia's army has subjected civilians to executions, torture, and rape, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. The widespread violence, part of a vicious counterinsurgency campaign that amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity, has contributed to a looming humanitarian crisis, threatening the survival of thousands of ethnic Somali nomads.
June 12, 2008 Press Release
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Collective Punishment
War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity in the Ogaden area of Ethiopia’s Somali Region
 | This 130-page report documents a dramatic rise in unchecked violence against civilians since June 2007, when the Ethiopian army launched a counterinsurgency campaign against rebels who attacked a Chinese-run oil installation. The Human Rights Watch report provides the first in-depth look at the patterns of abuse in a conflict that remains virtually unknown because of severe restrictions imposed by the Ethiopian government. |
HRW Index No.: 1-56432-322-6
June 12, 2008 Report
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Statement on Human Rights Situations that Require the Council's Attention
Human Rights Watch's Statement to the Human Rights Council
Human Rights Watch brings the human rights situations in Somalia, Ethiopia, China, and Zimbabwe to the Council's attention during the June session's General Debate (agenda item 4).
June 6, 2008 Oral Statement
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Somalia: Beleaguered Journalists Recognized for Courage
Vibrant Press Threatened by Worsening Chaos, Repression
Three Somali journalists have been awarded the prestigious Hellmann/Hammett award in recognition for their journalism while risking their lives and suffering terrible hardships in the midst of Somalia’s worsening armed conflict, Human Rights Watch said today.
June 2, 2008 Press Release
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Ethiopia: Repression Sets Stage for Non-Competitive Elections
Opposition Candidates, Voters Silenced Ahead of Local Polls
The Ethiopian government’s repression of registered opposition parties and ordinary voters has largely prevented political competition ahead of local elections that begin on April 13, Human Rights Watch said today. These widespread acts of violence, arbitrary detention and intimidation mirror long-term patterns of abuse designed to suppress political dissent in Ethiopia.
April 10, 2008 Press Release
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Off-target
When missile strikes at alleged terrorists go awry, U.S. policy takes a hit.
By Jennifer Daskal and Leslie Lefkow
Published in The Los Angeles Times
On March 3 two Tomahawk missiles were launched toward Dobley, Somalia in the fourth U.S. airstrike aimed at individuals with Al Qaeda links in Somalia since January 2007. While missing its target, shrapnel from the missiles injured six civilians, a pattern that echoes previous U.S. strikes in Somalia. Such strikes inevitably turn ordinary Somalis against the United States, thereby bolstering support for militant groups, while the human rights and humanitarian crisis that terrorists feed off -- and that U.S. policies exacerbate -- is largely ignored. Additionally, the Ethiopian military offensive that ousted the ruling Islamist authority from Mogadishu and installed a weak but internationally backed transitional government triggered a predictable insurgency by both Islamist militants and ordinary Somalis, with the resulting conflict having led to thousands of civilian deaths and displaced persons. Ultimately, an effective counter-terrorism policy must address the underlying human rights and humanitarian tragedies that are fueling the crisis, as it has become clear that eliminating a few alleged terrorists will not solve these deeper problems.
March 28, 2008 Commentary
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Somalia: UN Security Council Must Not Ignore Abuses
Video Footage From Mogadishu Shows Devastating Effects of Attacks on Civilians
The UN Security Council should strongly condemn serious abuses of civilians in Somalia and establish a commission of inquiry to identify individuals responsible for these crimes, Human Rights Watch said. Later this week, the UN secretary- general is due to present his report on Somalia to the Security Council.
March 11, 2008 Press Release
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Making exceptions for Ethiopia
By Tom Porteous, London Director
Published in Guardian Unlimited
Meles Zenawi thinks the west's attitude to Africa is unbalanced and unfair. But his country is being torn apart by human rights abuses
January 31, 2008 Commentary
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AU Summit: UN Chief Should Demand Justice in Darfur
During their meeting on Thursday at the African Union summit, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon should publicly call on Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to end his government’s obstruction of the new peacekeeping force in Darfur and his disregard for justice for international crimes, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the secretary-general.
January 29, 2008 Press Release
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Kenya: AU Leaders Should Urge Probe After Election Fraud
Kenyan Authorities Should Ensure Accountability for Post-Election Violence
African leaders attending the African Union summit in Addis Ababa on February 1-2, 2008 should call for an independent inquiry into post-election violence and election fraud in Kenya, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the African Union Commission’s chairman, Alpha Oumar Konaré.
January 29, 2008 Press Release
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Letter to US Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates on Somalia
The Department of Defense should send a clear message to Ethiopia and other parties to the region's conflicts
Human Rights Watch writes to Secretary Gates on widespread human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law in Somalia. The conflict in Mogadishu has steadily intensified since January 2007, after Ethiopian forces supporting the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) ousted the Islamic Courts Union from the city. To date, hundreds of civilians have been killed and up to 600,000 people are estimated to have fled the city, particularly following surges in violence in March, April and November. Since November, renewed clashes in Mogadishu have been marked by increasing brutality toward civilians, including further summary executions and enforced disappearances of individuals by Ethiopian and TFG forces conducting counterinsurgency operations.
December 12, 2007 Letter
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UN: Atrocities Fuel Worsening Crisis in Horn of Africa
UN Security Council Should Press Ethiopia and Somalia to Put an End to Abuses
The United Nations Security Council should urgently press the Ethiopian and Somali governments to end the grave human rights abuses that are fueling the worsening humanitarian crisis in Somalia and eastern Ethiopia’s Ogaden region, Human Rights Watch said today.
December 3, 2007 Press Release
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Caught in a Quagmire
By Harun Hassan and Leslie Lefkow
Published in The World Today
For most residents of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, this has been a catastrophic year. The country’s longstanding crisis has moved into a new, chilling cycle of foreign intervention, relentless insurgency and brutal response. People who survived sixteen years of war, statelessness and ruthless warlords are fleeing. Civilians are daily victims of the violence, including mass arrests, targeted killings, indiscriminate bombardment and attacks similar to those common in Iraq – remote-control explosives and suicide bombings – with even
less reporting and international attention.
December 1, 2007 Commentary
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Somalia: Mogadishu Clashes Devastating Civilians
Protect Medical Facilities and Aid Workers
Ethiopian troops and insurgents have violated the laws of war in killing and wounding dozens of civilians in new clashes in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, Human Rights Watch said today.
November 9, 2007 Press Release
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