still in the top 3 (unfortunately)
and a human rights report
Hi there,
We had a big celebration over the weekend – T'imk'et (epiphany) – the holiday where people commemorate the baptism of Jesus Christ. It’s a big deal over here and over at UNESCO too where it’s been on the list of the organisation’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity since 2019.
Major roads across the city were closed half the time, which led to the longest breakfast I’ve ever had (6 hours spent eating injera and talking about life and work with a fellow journalist and friend).
My other friend and journalist over in India, Priti Salian, has written ‘25 accessibility tips for 2025’ in the latest edition of her newsletter, Reframing Disability. If you were ever curious about or interested in making your work and writing more accessible, her newsletter is the right place to start.
To new subscribers, welcome!
My name is Maya Misikir, and I’m a freelance reporter based in Addis Abeba. I write Sifter, this newsletter where I send out the week’s top 5 stories on human rights and news in Ethiopia.
Now, to the news.
Press freedom: still in the top 3
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has released its annual report on imprisoned journalists. Ethiopia is third on the list of worst jailors of journalists on the African continent.
The report, which monitors journalists imprisoned in connection with their work, says that six journalists in Ethiopia are imprisoned, and 5 of them could face the death penalty if convicted.
Globally, at least ‘361 journalists were incarcerated on December 1, 2024’ adds the report which puts Eritrea first on the list (17 journalists in prison).
Here’s an excerpt from the special report:
Often-vague charges or convictions for terrorism or “extremism” make up a significant portion of those cases in countries including Myanmar, Russia, Belarus, Tajikistan, Ethiopia, Egypt, Venezuela, Turkey, India, and Bahrain.
The report does not take into account the many journalists who were imprisoned and then released throughout the year. This includes journalists like Muhiyadin Mohamed Abdullahi who was taken into detention by Ethiopian authorities on December 9, and released over two weeks later, with no formal charges filed.
The interactive map from CPJ, which shows attacks on journalists globally, here, and an update based on another annual report from Reporters Without Borders, here.
Human rights: situation remains ‘dire’
Another annual report, this one looking at human rights in Ethiopia, says the situation remains ‘dire’. The report, compiled by Human Rights Watch, says that in Ethiopia, serious abuses are happening within conflict settings and outside of it.
Who’s responsible for all the rights abuses happening in the country? It’s not just government forces but, ‘militias, and non-state armed groups’.
The report says that the conflict in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, between the federal government and the region’s informal militia (the Fano), has resulted in ‘war crimes and other serious abuses.’
These include ‘extrajudicial executions, sexual violence, torture, and ill-treatment against civilians’, and using ‘drones and heavy artillery against civilians’, under acts committed by government forces, and ‘killings of civilians, attacks on civilian objects, and unlawful arrests’ by Fano fighters.
Here’s an excerpt of what has happened in the region to medical professionals:
Ethiopian forces also committed widespread attacks amounting to war crimes against medical professionals, patients, and health facilities in the Amhara region. Soldiers beat, arbitrarily arrested, and intimidated medical professionals. Soldiers also unlawfully attacked medical transports and interfered with the delivery of humanitarian assistance.
The report mentions the eight aid workers that were killed, the increase in kidnappings across the country, ‘with authorities failing to address the crisis’, and the mass arrests that have happened without warrants.
It also mentions the Eritrean army’s crimes in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, where they remain more than two years after the Pretoria Peace deal was signed, ending active warfare between the federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.
The suspension of prominent CSOs in the country, which I have written about in the past month, is also mentioned, as is the fact that several right defenders are now in exile.
Here’s another excerpt from the report on a glimpse of the arbitrary detentions happening:
On September 5, the government released seven senior Oromo political opposition figures, whom authorities arbitrarily detained for four years without charge and ignored multiple court orders calling for their release.
If you want a chronologically arranged list of updates on what has been happening in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, go here. The full report on Ethiopia, from Human Rights Watch, here.
Earthquakes: aid can’t get to those who need it
The earthquakes happening in Ethiopia are causing destruction and tens of thousands have been forced to leave their homes to safer locations. Last week, I wrote an update on how this was also affecting the country’s major trade route: Ethio-Djibouti trade route.
The state-owned Kesem Sugar Factory has been a causality of the earthquakes in the country’s Afar region, forcing all of its 4,000 employees to leave the site. They have joined, ‘over 9,000 families who have left their homes and belongings behind’ according to a story on The Reporter.
Seven schools in the area have been closed following the earthquake, yet, ‘11 schools within a 20-kilometer radius of the volcanic activity and ground fissures continue to teach despite the ongoing risk’.
In the bordering areas of Oromia region, the earthquakes have displaced over 20,000 people. While the support provided to the communities in the Afar region is ‘insufficient’, displaced communities in Oromia have barely received any humanitarian assistance (due to the inaccessibility of the area attributed to security volatility).
Some of the displaced community members have resorted to selling their cattle to cover essential costs for their families.
The full story on The Reporter, here.
Law: revising electoral provisions
The national elections in Ethiopia are planned for June 2026. Last week, the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) announced an amendment to the Electoral, Political Parties registration, and Elections Code of Conduct Proclamation.
The changes to the law include, ‘alterations to the scope of the law, the terms of party registration, the redefinition of constituencies, electorates, and election procedures, and new mechanisms for post-election appeals and compliance’.
Here's an excerpt from a story on The Reporter:
NEBE officials are looking to include ‘security problems, disease outbreaks, and natural disasters’ under the list of circumstances that could rule out an election. The existing proclamation, which was ratified six years ago, does not explicitly list these scenarios, instead referring to them simply as ‘circumstances’.
The new law is expected to be presented to parliamentarians after being presented for consultations with (the decreasing number of) actors in the civic space. The head of the electoral board, however, is quoted in the story saying, “We have to implement this”.
The full story on The Reporter, here.
Education: hijabis blocked from exams
Muslim girls, in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, have missed registration for their national examinations because their schools ‘required them to remove their hijabs to register’.
The students missed the deadline for registration, which was on January 10, because they refused to remove their hijabs (headscarves).
Here’s an excerpt from the story:
The students have been protesting the hijab ban, which they claim infringes on their constitutional rights to education and religious freedom…The students estimate that approximately 160 Muslim grade 12 students in Axum were denied registration due to their refusal to remove their hijabs.
The story adds, that some of the students reported facing verbal abuse because of their hijabs and that the Islamic Affairs Council in Tigray has ‘initiated legal action against the ban’.
Last November, I wrote an update when the decision to suspend Muslim students in Addis Abeba, because of their religious covering was reversed after a, ‘wave of public concern regarding the treatment of these students’.
The full story on Addis Standard, here.
That’s all for this week. I’ll be back next week with more updates!
In the meantime, feel free to share this with anyone you think can benefit from keeping up with what’s going on in Ethiopia.
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