Rights watchdog urges more pressure on Ethiopia over NGOs bill
October 13, 2008 (NEW YORK) – Human Rights Watch today called on donor governments to put more pressure on the Ethiopian government to withdraw a draft law dealing with NGOs and civil society. The bill is expected to be introduced in parliament this month.
The bill called ‘Charities and Societies Proclamation’ (CSO law) would provide the government a potent tool to intimidate and weaken Ethiopia’s long-beleaguered civil society, the rights body said.
“The only reason to have such a repressive law is if it would be used to strangle Ethiopia’s few remaining independent voices,” said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Donor governments should make clear to Ethiopia that enacting this law will threaten future funding.”
The CSO law means to restrict the activities of national or foreign NGOs that receive more than 10 percent of their funding from abroad. They are bared from undertaking any activities in human rights, gender equality, children’s rights, disabled persons’ rights, conflict resolution, and strengthening judicial practices and law enforcement, among related activities.
The law would also exclude groups that are largely funded by Ethiopians living in the diaspora from working on these issues.
The law would carry severe criminal penalties for violations, including three to five years of imprisonment for minor administrative violations.
The draft law would establish a Charities and Societies Agency that could arbitrarily refuse to register an organization, order organization staff or leadership suspended and make onerous demands for documents and other information.
USAID assistant administrator for democracy, conflict and humanitarian issues Michael Hess, last September told reporters during a visit Ethiopia that the US Administration is concerned by this bill. He also disclosed they had raised the issue with Addis Ababa.
Ethiopia’s bilateral donors provide more than US$1 billion in aid each year to what is one of the world’s poorest countries and an important ally in regional counterterrorism efforts. Key governments, including the United States, France and the United Kingdom, have quietly pressed Addis Ababa to amend the most repressive provisions of the proposed law.
Donor governments have refused to condemn serious human rights abuses in Ethiopia publicly, claiming that quiet pressure achieves more impact.
The bill, which intends to improve mechanisms to monitor nongovernmental organizations according to Addis Abab, has been revised twice since May 2008. However the current version retains many of the most alarming provisions.
“Ethiopia claims the civil society law would promote accountability, but other countries achieve this without banning human rights activity,” Gagnon said. “As the seat of the African Union, Ethiopia should be at the forefront of efforts to promote good governance instead of a leader in civil society oppression.”
(ST)