going back in time, legally speaking
and a 'deeply concerning' pattern
Hi there,
The weeks are flying by these days, and by that I mean it’s Monday again and I’ve barely had time to catch my breath. Keeping this edition of Sifter extra short, just to keep you in the loop, but the updates from this week are really worth exploring more, especially on changes coming to the law on civil society organizations and how this can impact the upcoming elections. Planning to do a deeper dive as things settle down a bit more on my end.
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.
Civic space: the nail in the coffin
A new law to regulate civil society actors is in the works. This new one is expected to replace the law from 2019, one of the several progressive legal instruments that came at the time. (The media law was one of those, but alas, that was amended a few months ago.)
This new draft proposes some interesting (tragic) changes. One of the more shocking provisions says that civil society actors cannot receive any international financial support for any work related to elections – this includes political advocacy, voter education, and election observation.
The other major change is on the composition of the civil society regulatory body, particularly its board members. According to the current law, the regulatory body has 11 board members, with just 3 of these being government representatives.
The latest revision proposes decreasing the board members to 7, and gives a majority of the seats - 4 - to appointees from the Ministry of Justice.
The current law has a quota: 4 board seats assigned for representatives of women, youth, and people with disabilities. The new draft doesn’t see this as important and removes it altogether.
The full story, where I sourced and translated the report above, on BBC Amharic, here.
Elections: second round of complaints
Earlier in May, four opposition political groups publicized their common stand: the release of political prisoners in Ethiopia must happen, ahead of the upcoming general elections.
A coalition of four other opposition political parties has added to the concerns shared by the earlier group, especially on the pressure faced by opposition political parties and the ‘lack of independence of key democratic institutions’ in the country, according to a story on The Reporter.
Here’s an excerpt from a statement in the story.
“This includes the harassment and imprisonment of members and closure of party offices, which have previously forced members out of elections,” it said.
The coalition, named Medrek, has members representing parties from four different regions in Ethiopia: Tigray (Arena Tigray), Oromia (Oromo Federalist Congress), Sidama (Sidama Liberation Movement), and Afar (Afar People’s Justice and Democracy parties).
The full story, here.
Labor rights: association still suspended
The Ethiopian Health Professionals Association was suspended by the regulatory body. The reason given? The association had not held a timely general assembly and failed to submit its financial reports.
The head of the Association says the suspension is instead linked to the health workers’ strike in the country; the association was a vocal supporter of the movement since its early days.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) says authorities need to stop harassing health workers and immediately lift the suspension on the organization.
Here’s an excerpt on the legality of the strikes from HRW:
Lawful restrictions on the right of healthcare workers to strike do not permit the authorities to harass, bring criminal charges against, or deprive healthcare workers of their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly protected under international human rights law, Human Rights Watch said.
The full statement, which explains how worker strikes are determined under the Ethiopian legal system as well as international law, on Human Rights Watch, here.
Human rights: a ‘deeply concerning pattern’
Police are targeting and arbitrarily detaining Tigrayans in Addis Abeba based on their ethnic background, say Human Rights First, a local rights organization.
The head of the organization says that they corroborated claims on social media by ‘talking to victims and families’, according to a story on Addis Standard.
Here’s an excerpt:
The organization stated that “many of those detained are among the more than 56,000 young people who have fled the Tigray region this year” due to what it described as “political instability and lack of opportunity.”
While Addis Abeba has become “a destination for those escaping hardship,” Human Rights First noted that Tigrayan youths in the capital now face “growing risks of detention.”
During the Tigray war, in 2021, police had arrested ‘dozens of Tigrayans without due process’ after checking their identity documents.
The full story on Addis Standard, here.
Tigray: reunion in border towns
Zalambessa is a border town in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. It borders Eritrea, and since the Tigray war in 2020, movement across the border has not been possible.
Last week, the borders were open again after five years, and families reunited ‘in the presence of village elders and religious leaders’, according to a story on BBC.
Here’s an excerpt from the story:
The move to re-open a section of the border was organised by local activists and community figures without the official backing of the authorities on either side. But those behind it indicated that they had the blessing from officials in Tigray and Eritrea.
More than 55,000 people have been displaced from Zalambessa during the two-year war, adds the story.
The full story on BBC, 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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