Amnesty says draconian law will escalate crisis in Ethiopia

ESAT News (October 18, 2016)

Amnesty International said on Tuesday that heavy-handed crackdowns by the Ethiopian regime will only escalate a deepening crisis that has claimed the lives of more than 800 protesters since protests began in November 2015.

The call by the rights group came after the government issued a directive imposing wide-ranging restrictions as part of a state of emergency.

“These emergency measures are extremely severe and so broad that they threaten basic human rights that must not be curtailed even under a state of emergency,” said Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.

“These measures will deepen, not mitigate, the underlying causes of the sustained protests we have seen throughout the year, which have been driven by deep-seated human rights grievances. These grievances must be properly addressed by the authorities. Further crackdowns and human rights violations will only make the situation worse.”

In a public statement issued on Tuesday Amnesty International recommends that instead of further curtailing human rights, the government should seize the moment and recommit itself to respecting, protecting and fulfilling them, in line with its regional and international obligations.

“It is the government’s failure to constructively engage with the protesters that continues to fuel these protests. It must now change course,” said Muthoni Wanyeki.

“The government must ensure an end to excessive and arbitrary use of force by the security forces against demonstrators and release all protesters, opposition leaders and supporters, as well as journalists and bloggers, arrested for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.”

The rights group, among others, called for an end to excessive or arbitrary use of force against protesters and immediate release of all prisoners of conscience. It also called for an independent and international investigations into human rights violations in the context of the current protests.

At least 600 protesters have been killed in Oromia and 200 in Amhara since November last year, according to Amnesty.