Ethiopia: Rights group says partial lifting of bans under martial law not enough

ESAT News (March 17, 2017)

The Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that now is the time for Ethiopia to give the UN Working Group access, and stop hiding its rights record from scrutiny.

Senior researcher with the right group, Felix Horne, said although the regime announced this week that some of the restrictions of the state of emergency have been lifted, “the government hasn’t permitted the United Nation’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to investigate allegations despite requests from the UN body in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2015.”

The Ethiopian regime announced earlier this week that security forces can no more arrest people without warrants and also lifted curfews and restrictions on media. The Human Rights Watch says that is not enough.

“The announcement that arbitrary detentions – long a significant and underreported problem in rural Ethiopia – are no longer permissible under the state of emergency is welcome news. The government hasn’t permitted the United Nation’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to investigate allegations despite requests from the UN body,” Horne writes.

“As part of Ethiopia’s “deep reform” process, it should send a clear message to its security forces that they cannot arrest people for lawfully protesting government policies, for being members of legal opposition parties, or for other peaceful forms of dissent.”