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To make Poverty History
Make Human Rights Violation History First
“Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives”. (Article 21of Universal Declaration on Human Rights)
It was in the exercise the above fundamental democratic right that 90% of registered voters went to the polls in the May 2005 elections in Ethiopia. By doing so, the Ethiopian people have demonstrated their faith in democracy.
As was witnessed by international observers, including the EU Election Observer Mission and the Carter Center, the process went well up to voting day. The problems, which led to the unrest in the following weeks and months, surfaced when the government, alarmed by its very poor performance at the polls, delayed the publication of the result until August and took measures to manipulate votes obtained by opposition parties. This provoked peaceful protests that was subdued by and, in turn led, to a massive crackdown by government security forces. Nearly a hundred innocent citizens were killed in Addis Abba and other major cities during the peaceful demonstrations in early June and November. Government security forces conducted house-to-house searches and arrested thousands of people sympathising with the opposition. Opposition political party leaders, journalist working for the independent press, human rights activists, and leaders of civil society organisations and ordinary citizens are harassed, detained, humiliated, beaten, and killed. Stories of atrocities committed against ordinary citizens were being told across Ethiopia.
International observers, including the EU observers’ mission, have reported that these elections did neither live up to the democratic aspirations of the people of Ethiopia nor meet international standards.
We therefore call upon the United Nations Secretary General, the president of the African Union, the European Union and leaders of Member States, and the President of the United States to fulfil their obligation by calling for the respect of fundamental human rights including freedom of opinion, freedom of expression, the right to hold meetings and peaceful demonstration, and the right of association. These are all enshrined in the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments and there is no reason why the people of Ethiopia should be denied the exercise of such basic rights.
We fear that if the current violations of human rights are not redressed as a matter of utmost urgency and if the democratisation process is brought to a halt, the country may plunge into yet another civil war with disastrous consequences for its people and the entire region.
We believe that Ethiopians need to move forward with a spirit of reconciliation, and that is why the Ethiopian authorities should abide by their international obligation to respect human rights, release all political detainees and those responsible for gross human rights violations must be held accountable. To this end, we think it is important to set up an international fact finding mission that would investigate into the serious human rights violations.
We believe that in order to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals and make poverty history, Human Rights violations should be made History First.
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Make Dictatorship History in Ethiopia (MDHE) is an independent human rights advocacy network, whose objectives are to:
- Promote respect for fundamental human rights democratisation and political pluralism in Ethiopia.
- Promote respect for the rule of law, judicial independence, fair trial and due process.
- Work towards ending the cycle of political violence and impunity, and facilitating societal reconciliation.
- Explore ways and means for supporting victims of serious human rights violations.
- Raise international public awareness on the human rights situation in Ethiopia
- Build international solidarity with the people of Ethiopia along the principles and objectives outlined above
Contact us
Please use the following email to contact us:
mdhe.org
makedictatorshiphistory@gmail.com |
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