{"id":62426,"date":"2016-01-22T00:29:43","date_gmt":"2016-01-21T22:29:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/un-experts-urge-ethiopia-to-halt-violent-crackdown-on-oromia-protesters-ensure-accountability-for-abuses\/"},"modified":"2016-01-22T00:29:43","modified_gmt":"2016-01-21T22:29:43","slug":"un-experts-urge-ethiopia-to-halt-violent-crackdown-on-oromia-protesters-ensure-accountability-for-abuses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/un-experts-urge-ethiopia-to-halt-violent-crackdown-on-oromia-protesters-ensure-accountability-for-abuses\/","title":{"rendered":"UN experts urge Ethiopia to halt violent crackdown on Oromia protesters, ensure accountability for abuses"},"content":{"rendered":"

GENEVA, Switzerland, January 21, 2016\/APO (African Press Organization)\/ — <\/span><\/p>\n

A group of United Nations human rights experts* today called on the Ethiopian authorities to end the ongoing crackdown on peaceful protests by the country\u2019s security forces, who have reportedly killed more than 140 demonstrators and arrested scores more in the past nine weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sheer number of people killed and arrested suggests that the Government of Ethiopia views the citizens as a hindrance, rather than a partner,\u201d the independent experts said, while also expressing deep concern about allegations of enforced disappearances of several protesters.<\/p>\n

The current wave of protests began in mid-November, in opposition to the Government\u2019s \u2018Addis Ababa Integrated Development Master Plan\u2019 to expand the capital\u2019s municipal boundary. The \u2018Master Plan\u2019 could reportedly lead to mass evictions and the seizure of agricultural land in the Oromia region, as well as extensive deforestation.<\/p>\n

The UN experts welcomed the Government\u2019s announcement on 12 January 2016 suspending the implementation of the \u2018Master Plan\u2019, but were concerned about continuous reports of killings, mass arrests, excessive use of force and other abuses by security forces.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Government\u2019s decision is a positive development, but it cannot be seen as a sincere commitment until the security forces stop their crackdown on peaceful protests,\u201d they said. \u201cThe role of security forces should be to protect demonstrators and to facilitate peaceful assemblies, not suppress them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe call on the Government to immediately release protesters who seem to have been arrested for exercising their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression, to reveal the whereabouts of those reportedly disappeared and to carry out an independent, transparent investigation into the security forces\u2019 response to the protests,\u201d the experts said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccountability does not erase past abuses, but it is an important step towards rebuilding trust between people and their government,\u201d they stressed. \u201cImpunity, on the other hand, only perpetuates distrust, violence and more oppression.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UN independent experts also expressed grave concern over the Ethiopian Government\u2019s application of the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation 652\/2009 to arrest and prosecute protesters, labelling them as \u2018terrorists\u2019 without substantiated evidence. This law authorises the use of unrestrained force against suspects and pre-trial detention of up to four months.<\/p>\n

\u201cEthiopia\u2019s use of terrorism laws to criminalize peaceful dissent is a disturbing trend, not limited to the current wave of protests,\u201d they experts noted. \u201cThe wanton labelling of peaceful activists as terrorists is not only a violation of international human rights law, it also contributes to an erosion of confidence in Ethiopia\u2019s ability to fight real terrorism. This ultimately makes our world a more dangerous place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are bound to be policy disagreements in any society,\u201d the human rights experts said, \u201cbut every Government has the responsibility to give space for people to peacefully express their views and to take these views into account.\u201d<\/p>\n

(*) The experts: Mr. Maina Kiai, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; Mr. David Kaye, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection oft he right to freedom of opinion and expression; Mr. Michel Forst, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Mr. Christof Heyns, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; and the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GENEVA, Switzerland, January 21, 2016\/APO (African Press Organization)\/ — A group of United Nations human rights experts* today called on the Ethiopian authorities to end the ongoing crackdown on peaceful protests by the country\u2019s security forces, who have reportedly killed more than 140 demonstrators and arrested scores more in the past nine weeks. \u201cThe sheer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4584],"tags":[428,4585,830],"class_list":{"0":"post-62426","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-africa-news-2","7":"tag-africa","8":"tag-apo","9":"tag-news","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62426\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}