| uropean Parliament resolution on the situation in Ethiopia (2016/2520(RSP)) |
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The European Parliament,
- having regard its previous resolutions on the situation in Ethiopia
- having regard to the statement by the EEAS spokesperson on recent clashes in Ethiopia, 23 December 2015
-
having regard to the joint statement by Federica Mogherini, High
Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of
the European Commission, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Tedros Adhanom
of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia, 20 October 2015
-
having regard to the press release on the meeting between the High
Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini and the Minister of
Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia, Tedros Adhanom, 13
January 2016
- having regard to the statement by the EEAS Spokesperson on elections in Ethiopia, 27 May 2015
- having regard to the press release of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 10 July 2015
- having regard to press briefing note of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 10 July 2015
- having regard to the universal Declaration of Human Rights
- having regard to the African Union Charter of Human and Peoples' Rights
- having regard to the UN the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
- having regard to Rule 123(2) its Rules of procedure
A.whereas over the past two months , Ethiopia’s largest region, Oromia, has been hit by a wave of mass protests
over the expansion of the municipal boundary of the capital, Addis
Ababa which has posed risks for farmers eviction from their land;
B.whereas
security forces used excessive lethal force and killed at least 140
protesters and injured many more, in what may be the biggest crisis to
hit Ethiopia since the 2005 election violence;
C.whereas
on the 14 January 2016 the government decided to cancel the disputed
large scale urban development plan ; whereas if implemented, the plan
will expand the city’s boundary by 20 times its current size; whereas
Addis Ababa’s enlargement has already displaced millions of Oromo
farmers and trapped them in poverty;
D.whereas
the ethnic Oromos continue to suffer particular discrimination and
human rights violations in efforts to suppress potential dissent in the
region;
E.whereas
the Ethiopian authorities arbitrarily arrested a number of peaceful
protesters, journalists and opposition party leaders in the context of a
brutal crackdown on the protests in the Oromia Region; whereas those
arrested are at risk of torture and other ill-treatment;
F.whereas the government’s labelled largely peaceful protesters as ‘terrorists’ deploying military forces against them ;
G.whereas
on December 23, the authorities arrested Bekele Gerba, deputy chairman
of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC); Oromia’s largest legally
registered political party; whereas Mr Gerba was being taken in a
prison known for torture and other ill-treatment practices and shortly
after he was reportedly hospitalized; whereas his whereabouts are now
unknown, raising concerns of an enforced disappearance.
H.whereas other senior OFC leaders have been arbitrarily arrested in recent weeks or are said to be under virtual house arrest.
I.whereas
last December leading activists such as Getachew Shiferaw
(Editor-in-Chief: Negere Ethiopia), Yonathan Teressa (an online
activist) and Fikadu Mirkana (Oromia Radio and TV) have been arrested
arbitrarily though yet to be charged by the Ethiopian authorities.
J.whereas the current protests echo the bloody events of April and May 2014,
when federal forces fired into groups of largely peaceful Oromo
protesters, killing dozens; whereas at least hundreds more students were
arrested, and many remain behind bars
K.whereas
Ethiopia’s government has regularly been accusing people who express
even mild criticism of government policy of association with terrorism;
whereas dozens of journalists, bloggers, protesters, students and
activists have been prosecuted under the country’s draconian 2009
Anti-Terrorism Proclamation.
L.whereas Ethiopia’s government imposes pervasive restrictions on independent civil society and media; whereas according to the Committee for the Protection of Journalist’s (CPJs) 2014 prison census
found that Ethiopia was the fourth worst jailer of journalists in the
world, with at least 17 journalists behind bars, whereas Ethiopia also
ranked fourth on CPJ's 2015 list of the 10 Most Censored Countries
M.whereas
the Ethiopian authorities have routinely summoned to court the "Zone 9
bloggers" with terrorism charges for their writing over the past 2
years.
N.whereas
numerous prisoners of conscience, imprisoned in previous years based
solely on their peaceful exercise of their freedom of expression and
opinion, including journalists and opposition political party members,
remained in detention.; whereas these included some convicted in unfair
trials, some whose trials continued, and some who continued to be
detained without charge, among others Eskinder Nega, Temesghen Desalegn,
Solomon Kebede, Yesuf Getachew, Woubshet Taye, Saleh Edris, and
Tesfalidet Kidane
O.whereas
severe restrictions on external funding continue to undermine the work
and effectiveness of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) under the
2009 Charities and Societies Proclamation.
P.Whereas
Ethiopia rejected recommendations to amend the Charities and Societies
Proclamation and the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation that several countries
made during the examination of its rights record under the Human Rights
Council Universal Periodic Review in May 2014.
Q.Whereas
Andargachew Tsige, a British-Ethiopian citizen and leader of an
opposition party living in exile, was arrested in June 2014 while in
transit through Yemen’s main airport and forcibly removed to Addis
Ababa; whereas Tsige had been condemned to death several years earlier
in his absence, and has been in death row practically incommunicado
since then; whereas Juan Mendez, the UN special rapporteur on torture,
has written to the Ethiopian and UK governments saying he is
investigating the treatment of Tsige, following claims that Tsige is
being deprived of sleep and held in isolation;
R.Whereas
the Ethiopian government has de facto imposed a widespread blockade of
the Ogaden region in Ethiopia, rich in oil and gas reserves; whereas
attempts to work and report from the region by international media and
humanitarian groups are seen as criminal acts, punishable under the
anti-terrorist proclamation; whereas there are reports of war crimes and
severe human rights violations perpetrated by the Army and government
paramilitary forces against the Ogaden population;
S.whereas
The Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), the
ruling party coalition, won all 547 parliamentary seats in the May 2015
elections, due in part to the lack of space for critical or dissenting
voices in the election process; whereas May’s federal elections took
place in a general atmosphere of intimidation, and concerns over the
lack of independence of the National Electoral Board;
T.Whereas
Ethiopia enjoys political support from western donors and most of its
regional neighbours, mostly due to its role as host of the African Union
(AU) and its contribution to UN peacekeeping, security and aid
partnerships with Western countries;
U.whereas
Ethiopia receives more aid than any other African country – close to
$3bn per year, or about half the national government budget
V.whereas
for decades the government have been authorizing big development
projects to foreign investors, which have been leading to severe land
grabbing and millions vulnerable people often forcibly evicted and
insensitively resettling; whereas often the government does not offer
the local communities any alternative to permanent settlement and had
not fully consulted groups before evicting them.
W.whereas
some donors, including UK’s Department for International Development
(DFID) and the World Bank, rechanneled funding from the problematic
Protection of Basic Services (PBS) program in 2015 which was associated
with the abusive “villagization program,” a government effort to
relocate 1.5 million rural people into permanent villages, ostensibly to
improve their access to basic services; whereas some of the relocations
in the first year of the program in Gambella region in 2011 were
accompanied by violence, including beatings and arbitrary arrests, and
insufficient consultation and compensation
X.whereas
Ethiopia is experiencing its worst drought in decades, deepening food
insecurity and severe emaciation and unusual livestock deaths; whereas
with 640 000 refugees, Ethiopia is the country in Africa with the
highest number of refugees; whereas nearly 560 000 people are
internally displaced due to floods , violent clashes over scarce
resources and drought
Y.whereas
the current political situation in Ethiopia and the brutal repression
of dissent put a serious risk the security, development and stability in
the country;
1.Strongly
condemns the recent use of excessive force by the security forces in
Oromia and in all Ethiopian regions, the increased cases of human rights
violations and abuses, including violations of people’s physical
integrity, arbitrary arrests and illegal detentions, the use of
torture, and violations of the freedom of the press and of expression,
as well as the prevalence of impunity;
2.Calls for an immediate end to violence, human rights violations and political intimidation and persecution;
3.Urges
for the immediate release of all those jailed for exercising their
rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, including
students, farmers, opposition politicians, academics, bloggers and
journalists ;
4.Calls
on the government to carry out a credible, transparent and impartial
investigation into the killings of protesters and other alleged human
rights violations in connection with the protest movement, and to fairly
prosecute those responsible, regardless of rank or position;
5.
Welcomes the government’s decision to completely halt the Addis Ababa
and Oromia special zone master plan, that plans to expand the municipal
boundary of Addis Ababa. Calls for an immediate inclusive and
transparent political dialogue, including the government, opposition
parties, civil society representatives and the local population
preventing any further violence or radicalisation of the population;
takes the view that such dialogue, conducing to the democratisation of
the country, is not possible under the current political conditions;
6.Calls
on the Government of Ethiopia to respect the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and the African Union Charter of Human and Peoples' Rights,
including the right to peaceful assembly, freedom of expression and
association;
7.Urges
the government to immediately invite the UN Special Rapporteur on the
rights to freedom of association and peaceful assembly and other UN
human rights experts to visit Ethiopia to report on the situation;
8.Calls
on the government to stop suppressing the free flow of information,
including by jamming media broadcasts and harassing media, including
through intrusive surveillance programs, and facilitate access
throughout Ethiopia for independent journalists and human rights
monitors;
9.
Calls on the government to include local communities in a dialogue on
the implementation of any large scale development project and ensure
equal distribution of future benefits to the population ; to ensure that
farmers and pastoralists are adequately compensated, preventing them
from any arbitrary or forced displacement without consultation and
adequate compensation.
10. Expresses its concerns on the government’s forced resettlement program, known as “villagization program”.
11.States
that respect for human rights and the rule of law are crucial to the
EU’s policies to promote development in Ethiopia and throughout the Horn
of Africa;
12.Call
on the EU to effectively monitor programs and policies to ensure that
EU development assistance is not contributing to human rights violations
in Ethiopia, particularly programs linked to displacement of farmers
and pastoralists, and develop strategies to minimize any negative impact
of displacement within EU funded development projects;
13.
Further calls on the EU and Member States to react promptly to the
escalation of violence and the deterioration of the human rights
situation in the country by publicly and privately condemning the use of
excessive force by security forces in Oromia and call on the government
to exercise restraint in its response against protests and the exercise
of basic freedoms by the Ethiopian people;
14.
Stresses that financial support to Ethiopia from the EU should be
measured attending to the country's human rights record and the degree
to which the Ethiopian government promotes reforms towards
democratisation, as the only way to ensure stability and sustainable
development;
15.Instructs
its President to forward this resolution to the Government and the
Parliament of Ethiopia, the European Commission, the Council, the
Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for
Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the institutions of the African
Union and the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Akkawaaq Jaalataa
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mercredi 20 janvier 2016
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