crackdown on health professionals
and notes on World Press Freedom Day
Hi there,
I hope you had a great weekend. I will be visiting the office of the Immigration and Citizenship Services this week to get my new passport. Kindly requesting that you send all the thoughts and prayers you can spare my way.
I’ll have more updates on the election project by next week, but things are already picking up speed, as you’ll see below. On a lighter note, though, the 19th edition of the Addis International Film Festival kicks off this week, offering a rare, compelling reason to leave the house voluntarily.
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 human rights stories in Ethiopia.
Now, to the news.
Labor rights: going head-to-head
Amnesty called for the immediate release of Yonatan Dagnew, President of the Ethiopian Health Professionals Association, last Monday.
Why is the president of the Ethiopian Health Professionals Association in prison? As part of the response to the demands of ‘dignified working conditions’ by Ethiopian health professionals, issued to the Ministry of Health.
About two weeks ago, I wrote an update when health professionals across the country issued an ultimatum to the Ministry of Health, demanding better salaries, work hours, allowances, and benefits; changes that they’ve been pushing for a few years.
A labor strike across different parts of the country since early last week has now resulted in arrests and intimidation of health professionals, reports Addis Standard.
Here’s an excerpt from a source at the Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, the largest specialized hospital in the country:
The source described the response from authorities as one of “threats” rather than dialogue.
“Rather than taking our movement seriously, the responsible bodies have continued to make threats,” the source said, adding that efforts had been made to “undermine the movement by making calls to unemployed physicians to take over.”
The Ethiopian Human Rights Defenders Center has reiterated the call to release the president of the Association, a week later, along with 75 doctors, students, and other representatives.
What has been the official response of the Ministry of Health?
Here’s another excerpt from Addis Standard:
The Ministry also said that healthcare professionals are “expected to be present at their workstations, perform their regular duties, and present their issues to the relevant authorities,” and warned that “the government’s patience in resolving the issue with an open mind has its limits.”
Major hospitals across Addis Abeba, and other regional states are operating at a limited capacity, with only 'emergency care units continuing to function’.
The post from Amnesty, here, the post from the Ethiopian Human Rights Defenders Center, here, and a story on Addis Standard, here.
Press Freedom: is ‘celebrate’ the right word?
Last Friday, the Editor’s Guild hosted an event to celebrate World Press Freedom Day in Ethiopia. On the same day, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) published a report on the seven journalists arrested in April alone, as the ‘government tightens the screws on the media’.
One of the seven journalists is Ahmed Awga from Ethiopia’s Somali region, arrested for interviewing a man who said his son died after police beat him.
During the World Press Freedom Day event in Addis Abeba, the US ambassador as part of his keynote remarks, reminded us of the US’s ‘renewed focus on free speech’, and of the importance of ‘keeping the information space open, even when we disagree’ (à la ‘Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship’).
Also arrested last month is Muhyidin Abdullahi Omar, from Ethiopia’s Harari administrative city, for defamation and spreading misinformation on a story about ‘mismanagement at a local mosque and corruption at the regional attorney general’s office’.
The Reporter also had one of their journalists arrested in April: Abebe Fikir, who was accused of ‘filming without permission’ on a story about a housing dispute.
For the deputy director of the Ethiopian Media Authority (the government regulatory body), who also shared opening remarks at World Press Freedom Day, what was more important seemed to be understanding ‘the Ethiopian context’ as he put it, and to ‘look at the issues we’re facing through that lens’.
Irrespective of context, the Ethiopian government has committed to protecting and promoting press freedom as a fundamental human right: first few words of the opening speech that followed by Deputy Commissioner of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, Rakeb Messele.
The full report by CPJ, here.
Election: Tigray’s main party is out
The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia has ‘nullified its legal recognition’ of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
The TPLF says that this threatens to unravel the Pretoria peace deal, which ended the war between the TPLF and the federal government in November 2022.
Here’s an excerpt from a story on Bloomberg on the justification from the electoral board:
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front failed to organize a proper assembly of its members, conduct internal elections or approve bylaws, according to the board, which suspended its recognition of the party for three months in February.
The party had failed to implement “corrective measures” since then, the board said in a statement.
The steps outlined by the electoral board were supposed to be taken by the party after its special registration last year.
But the TPLF didn’t accept this special registration, instead asking for reinstatement of its former status.
The TPLF lost initial legal recognition during the Tigray war.
The full story on Bloomberg, here.
Labor rights: an agreement reached
DHL workers ended a strike last Wednesday after reaching an agreement for a salary increase.
Employees had initially demanded a 120 percent raise. DHL countered this with a 20 to 24 percent raise. The DHL Workers’ Union then reduced its demand to a 50 percent raise, and went on strike for 6 days when that was also declined.
After 6 days of strike, an agreement was reached for a 35 percent raise.
Here’s an excerpt from a labor union representative:
Despite the settlement on Wednesday, Abateyhun highlighted broader concerns: “There is work overload. Performance is measured by international standards. However, in our country, for example, there are challenges that prevent them from meeting the standards.
The question was that this international standard should take into account our country’s situation and respect the country’s laws.”
The full story on Addis Standard, here.
Culture: Made in Ethiopia
In June last year, I wrote a story on a documentary entitled ‘Made in Ethiopia’. The film, which ‘shines a light on the complexities of Chinese investment’ in Ethiopia, had just premiered at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival.
Here’s an excerpt from that story on Semafor:
Made in Ethiopia has achieved a major feat in portraying the sacrifice paid by ordinary people in making the industrialization dream a reality for Ethiopia.
We see Ethiopian workers who are employed yet unable to make ends meet, as well as their Chinese counterparts who have left their families behind in China to make a better life for themselves.
It shows the pains of transitions and the unseen sacrifices that sometimes don’t count toward development because of “thieves in the middle”…”
The film will be screened in Addis Abeba, at the Addis International Film Festival. I highly recommend watching this if you’ll be in the city on May 21 or 22.
Here’s an excerpt from the filmmakers:
Filmed over four years with singular access, Made in Ethiopia lifts the curtain on China’s historic but misunderstood impact on Africa, and explores contemporary Ethiopia at a moment of profound crisis.
The film throws audiences into two colliding worlds: an industrial juggernaut fueled by profit and progress, and a vanishing countryside where life is still measured by the cycle of the seasons.
Details on schedules on Instagram, 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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