Human Rights in Ethiopia - Incidents

Incidents

It is claimed that in 2005 police massacred opposition protesters. Live gunfire from government forces was directed at protesters and bystanders.

According to a report released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) in June 2008, the Ethiopian army has committed widespread executions, torture and rape in Ogaden, as part of a counterinsurgency campaign. The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded with a big press release stating that they performed an investigation during August and September of that year, which "found no trace of serious human rights violation let alone war crimes or crimes against humanity" during their response to the Abole oil field raid, but claimed the investigation found "a mass of evidence of further systematic abuses committed by the ONLF." However, the U.S. State Department's annual report on human rights notes that Lisan Yohannes, a "former ruling party insider", led the investigation, an appointment which "opens questions about the independence of the investigation."

On 6 January 2009, the Ethiopian parliament passed the "Charities and Societies Proclamation (NGO law)", which "criminalizes most human rights work in the country" according to HRW, who added that "the law is a direct rebuke to governments that assist Ethiopia and that had expressed concerns about the law's restrictions on freedom of association and expression."