desperate for a technicality

and Ethiopian migrants in Egypt

Hi there,

It’s been another week of recovering from the flu but it looks like I’ve finally made it out of the woods, so I’m sending this edition out in much better spirits. (Can anyone tell I like idioms?)

This week’s edition doesn’t feature an update on a report but if there’s one you think I should look into, please hit reply to this email and let me know. I would be happy to give it a read and share highlights here.

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.

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Tech: waiting on a ‘groundbreaking’ decision

Older subscribers might remember an update I wrote in November last year; based on a report by Amnesty International that detailed how Meta (Facebook’s parent company) had contributed to the rights abuses in Ethiopia during the Tigray war. The report said that during this war, Meta, ‘through its content-shaping algorithms and data-hungry business model – contributed to the serious human rights violations and abuses perpetrated against the Tigrayan community’.

During the same month, two Ethiopians brought a case against Meta in Kenya, alleging that the ‘company has allowed hate speech to run rampant on the platform, causing widespread violence’. One of them was an Amnesty researcher who said the platform endangered the life of his family. The other one says he hold Facebook accountable for his father’s murder (a post that was shared on Facebook targeted his father which then led to his killing).

Last week, the Kenyan High Court held a session to hear the case in which these two Ethiopian citizens, along with Kenyan civic society organization, The Katiba Institute, brought against Meta; in particular, on the question of jurisdiction.

Meta says that it is registered in the U.S. and these claims have to be filed there. Plus, the ‘human rights violations occurred in Ethiopia and therefore cannot be heard in Kenya’, Meta argues, according to the latest statement from Amnesty.

Here’s an excerpt on why the legal team says Kenya has the jurisdiction:

…because the content moderation operation reviewing Facebook content from Ethiopia was located in Kenya, the case can be brought to the Kenyan High Court. 

Other reasons cited for considering the case under Kenyan jurisdiction are Fisseha Tekle’s current residence in Kenya and safety concerns preventing him from returning to Ethiopia, the fact that The Katiba Institute is a Kenyan organization and the existence of a significant Facebook user base in the country.

The statement adds that these kinds of ‘jurisdictional, practical and other legal challenges’ is why ‘communities and individuals impacted by corporate human rights abuses committed by multi-nationals often struggle to access justice.’

The decision is expected to be passed in January 2025.

Earlier this month, a Kenyan court had ruled that Meta can be sued over the ‘dismissal of dozens of content moderators by a contractor.’ Why did the content moderators – who also allege poor working conditions in a separate case – lose their jobs? Former employees say it was for, ‘trying to organise a union.’

The full statement from Amnesty here, and the previous report on Meta’s culpability from November last year, here. The story on the content moderators, on Reuters, here.

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Migration: when nowhere is safe

Over the past few weeks, I have written updates on the geopolitical tensions in the Horn of Africa region; in particular the results of a port deal signed between Ethiopia and the government of Somaliland on January 1 of this year. This resulted in Egypt showing solidarity with Somalia, and sending over two rounds of military equipment. You can catch up here.

But the ‘tensions’ between Ethiopia and Egypt have been long in the making and go back years earlier to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

Here’s how a story on the BBC captured it from last week’s updates:

Meanwhile, Addis Ababa and Cairo have been at loggerheads for more than a decade over Ethiopia's construction of a vast hydroelectric dam on the River Nile. Egypt sees this as a possible threat to the volume of water flowing down the river, which it relies on.

This has now made the life of Ethiopian migrants and refugees in Egypt ‘increasingly dire’, according to a story on Addis Standard. They are facing, ‘financial exploitation, harassment, arbitrary detentions, and instances of violence’ in Egypt, and are also being detained without due process.

Here’s an excerpt from what an Ethiopian refugee in Egypt said:

“In the past, when confronted with serious difficulties in Egypt, we [Ethiopian refugees] would seek refuge in Sudan,” he added. “However, that is no longer a viable option as Sudan is currently engulfed in civil war.”

The migrants say that the mass detentions started in April last year and have worsened as the negotiations failed between Ethiopia and Egypt over the dam.

Last month, a story on BBC talked about how Ethiopian migrants in Lebanon were facing another crisis because of the war there. Most of them get their passports taken when they arrive by their employers (due to the Kafala system), and are usually ‘overworked, underpaid and physically abused’.

Now with the war in Lebanon, their employers are preventing them from leaving or abandoning them in the country, with no means to leave.

The full story on Addis Standard, which gives the background context on the tensions between Ethiopia and Egypt and the many failed attempts at negotiations, here. For a compiled list of all updates on migration on this newsletter, go here.

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Security: conflicts are fueling lawlessness

The U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia says that conflict is a driving reason behind ‘the growth of criminality’ in the country. The Ambassador, who made this speech at the closing program for USAID’s five-year Ethiopia support program, says conflict has also led to severe human rights abuses in Ethiopia, sexual violence, and enforced disappearances.  

Here’s an excerpt from the speech he made:

“Conflict has a disproportionate impact on children. A recent report from the UN-OCHA highlighted the dire situation in the Amhara region, where over 4,178 schools have been closed, leaving 4.1 million children out of school. This disruption will significantly impact their education and long-term mental health.”

The last time the Ambassador spoke out publicly on the conflicts in the country (he had named all armed groups as well as the government saying that dialogue was the way out) the Ethiopian government had released an official statement calling his speech, ‘unsolicited advice’.

His recorded speech, in English, on Ethiopia Insider, here, and the story, on Ethiopia Insider, in Amharic, here.

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Finance: the IMF approves

The first review of the loan agreement between the IMF and Ethiopia (the $3.4 billion credit facility) has gone well.  A ‘formal completion of this review’, by the IMF’s executive board ‘would give Ethiopia access to financing of about $345 million’, according to a statement by the IMF.

Here’s an excerpt:

Implementation of Ethiopia’s homegrown economic reform program, including the adoption of a floating exchange rate regime in late July, is advancing well. The exchange rate in the official market has largely closed the gap to the parallel market, with little disruption to the broader economy.

The statement adds that, a ‘temporary fiscal spending package will help cushion the socio-economic impact of the reforms’.

In last week’s update, I wrote about how millions of civil servants are pushing back against proposed salary increases that they say are not enough to keep up with the rising cost of living.

The full statement by the IMF, here.

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Human rights: falling on deaf ears

The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission says that the recommendations it is presenting to the Ethiopian government are being ignored, according to a story on The Reporter.

The Commission, which says that rights violations continue to take place, especially in Ethiopia’s Oromia and Amhara regions, adds that the government has ‘failed to implement recommendations forwarded in past reports’.

Here’s an excerpt from the story:

On a more positive note, the Commission says that the release of large numbers of people detained in Awash Arba and other centers following the declaration of a state of emergency last year is underway.

However, it notes that these people are unable to go back to their jobs as they cannot present evidence of their detainment having never been presented to a court of law.”

The full story on The Reporter, here, and the report of the Commission, in Amharic, here.

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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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