-The right of the Ethiopian people to receive and give information regardless of frontiers is their inalienable right to have the information they need to make informed decisions about their form of government, leaders and lives.
Alemayehu Mariam, Political Science professor at California State University.
The right to free speech, free press, and association are pertinent components to a healthy democracy and a strong civil society. The EPRDF has stated that it is committed to upholding its own laws and international laws, but the evidence over the last five years has demonstrated otherwise.
Since the 2005 presidential elections, Ethiopia’s human rights record has been decreasing at an alarming rate. The 2005 elections were marred by violence and fraud drawing international attention. As a result, the Ethiopian government rapidly began to crack down on freedom of speech and the press. Journalists were arrested, publishing houses were heavily fined, and new legislation was passed criminalizing freedom of expression that the government deemed dangerous or conducive to terrorism. For the last five years, the EPRDF, which has been in power since 1991, has been acquiring more control over social media and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which has resulted in silencing independent media outlets and local human rights organizations.
In July 2008, Ethiopia’s parliament adopted the Mass Media and Freedom of Information Proclamation, more commonly known as the ‘Press Law.’ According to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, One Hundred Ways of Putting Pressure, the Press Law made some progressive changes such as barring pre-trial detention of journalists; however it included: (1) broad government power to initiate defamation suits, (2) heavy financial penalties for publishing houses, journalists or organizations that do not adhere to overly restrictive guidelines, and (3) the power to arbitrarily deny licenses and registration to NGOs. The HRW report in its entirety can be read here: www.hrw.org/en/reports/2010/03/24/one-hundred-ways-putting-pressure?print
Many NGOs in Ethiopia have closed down or moved abroad over the last decade, while other organizations attempt to keep running even with the government’s frequent efforts to shut them down. For example, HRW states, “the Ethiopian Human Rights Council, the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association, and other prominent Ethiopian human rights groups have faced repeated bureaucratic efforts to shut them down.”
When the Press Law was adopted, many international organizations recommended reforms be adopted to assure compliance with national and international laws protecting freedom of expression and association. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Executive Director, Joel Simon, published a strong letter, which can be read in full at: http://cpj.org/2010/02/cpj-urges-ethiopias-zenawi-to-pursue-press-reforms.php, urging the Ethiopian Prime Minister to reform the Press Law. CPJ research has shown that at least a dozen independent journalists claimed to have fled Ethiopia in 2009 due to harassment, intimidation, threats, and censorship from officials or government supporters. According to CPJ research, this was the second largest exodus of journalists in Africa next to Somalia.
Furthermore, as the 2010 presidential elections approached, the Ethiopian government passed two alarming pieces of legislation, which have resulted in stripping many members of the press and NGOs of their right to freedom of expression guaranteed in the Ethiopian constitution as well as in recognized international law. The Charities and Societies Proclamation (CSO law) and the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation were both passed in 2009 significantly impacting the rights of free speech, free press and association.
The Charities and Societies Proclamation was passed in January, 2009. The Ethiopian parliament adopted this new law titled: The Proclamation to Provide for the Registration and Regulation of Charities and Societies. According to HRW, the legislation restricts and criminalizes the activities of NGOs and associations in ways that violate the rights to freedom of expression. Equally important, HRW has stated that since the CSO law went into effect, efforts to shut down human rights groups have intensified, both in terms of threats towards individuals and bureaucratic threats directed at organizations.
Six months later in July of 2009, the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation added further concerns of abusive restrictions on freedom of expression. According to the HRW report,
“The law contains and overly broad definitions of terrorism which can encompass even peaceful expressions of dissent and political protest. But it is particularly worrying for the media because if provides discretion to authorities to prosecute those who ‘promote’ or encourage terrorism. Under the law’s broad definition, this could include editors and journalists who publish articles referring to armed opposition movements, such as the Oromo Liberation Front or the Ogaden National Liberation Front, or any groups the government deemed as terrorists.”
The anti-terror law also strips journalists of the right to protect the identity of their sources. Fear of being prosecuted under these broad laws has led many journalists to flee Ethiopia.
As the 2010 elections drew near, the crack down on Ethiopia’s journalists and media outlets intensified. The International Federation of Journalists accused Ethiopian politicians of resorting to threats and intimidation against many Ethiopian journalists leading up to the 2010 elections in May. Several journalists reported receiving intimidating threats from politicians as Election Day approached. For example, according to EAJA Media Freedom Alert and Up-dates, on May 7th, 2010, Amharic weekly Sened reported that one of the independent candidates verbally attacked its reporters over the phone and threatened to kill them for doing a story about his political activities within his constituency.
In January of this year, HRW found that a Bloomberg correspondent in Ethiopia was detained for two days and threatened with deportation after he attempted to interview seven Tigrayan farmers who had been arrested after they alleged that they had been denied access to food aid because they did not support the EPRDF.
Equally important, the Ethiopian government has a monopoly over the information being released through Television and Radio broadcasts. The government has also jammed broadcasts it deems as threatening. For example, Deutsche Welle and Voice of America were both jammed this year. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) called on Ethiopia to lift restrictions on Voice of America broadcasts after the government jammed the network. In a strong statement to the Ethiopia, IFJ stated that the jamming was “unprofessional, intolerant and flies into the face of promises that the Ethiopian Government is committed to press freedom.” The government also operates and owns the only Internet server in the country. Access to certain sites over the Internet has been blocked. In 2008, the Committee to Protect Journalists claimed their site was blocked for several months after it reported the arrest and beating of the editor in chief of The Reporter.
National and International law protect the right to free speech, press and association. Not only does Ethiopia’s constitution protect the right to freedom of expression, but it also states it has a duty to uphold Ethiopia’s international treaty obligations. Ethiopia has signed international treaties such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, both, which protect the right to freedom of expression, including the right to seek and receive information as well as the right to impart information and ideas. Ethiopia is also a signed member of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, which also protects civil and political rights including the right to free expression.
Ethiopia has rebuffed international criticism to the abusive restrictions on freedom of expression by claiming that these laws and actions are necessary for national security under threat of terrorism. Article 9 of the African Charter makes it very clear that “any restrictions to freedom of expression should be the exception and are only allowed if a clear causal link can be demonstrated between the expression and the risk of harm to a legitimate interest. This means governments are not allowed to punish people for criticizing official policies or for calling for a different form of government. It means too that the authorities should not use censorship to prevent people from expression their views.” Other international treaties that Ethiopia is a signed party to, including the ICCPR, have similar clauses restricting a country’s right to circumvent civil and political rights without a concrete, legitimate threat to national security.
