World Bank: Investigate ‘Development’ Project Abuses

Rigorously Apply Social Safeguards in Ethiopia

March 18, 2013, Washington, DC(HRW) – The World Bank’s board should support an internal investigation into allegations of abuse linked to a World Bank project in Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch said today.

The Inspection Panel, the World Bank’s independent accountability mechanism, has recommended an investigation into whether it has violated its policies in a project linked to the Ethiopian government’s resettlement program, known as “villagization.” Villagization involves the forced relocation of some 1.5 million Ethiopians, including indigenous and other marginalized peoples, and has been marred by violence. The board is scheduled to meet on March 19, 2013, to consider the Inspection Panel’s recommendation.

Ethiopia: Journalism under anti-terrorism law

How the US ‘war on terror’ has provided cover for laws that are being used to silence dissident journalists.

March 18, 2013 (Aljazeera) –When the Paris-based media watchdog group, Reporters Without Borders released its annual Press Freedom Index, few were surprised that Ethiopia had dropped 11 places to 137.

Journalists in the country have never truly been free to report however developments in the region over the last few years have had a detrimental effect on the media environment.

Ethiopia: “Hands off our leader” Afar warriors warned Ethiopia’s minority junta

Posted On : March 18th, 2013 | Updated On : March 18th, 2013

*popular cleric still in Semera ignoring threat of arrest (By Getahune Bekele, South Africa)

Despite demonstration in tyrannized nation where adhering to Islam is becoming dangerous and hedged with restrictions under the controversial anti- terrorism law, the peaceful Islamic revolution is expanding and intensifying in Ethiopia much to the Fr ustration of the ruling TPLF junta.

The use of brute force as it was seen in the southern strategic city of Shashemene on Friday March 15, 2013 during a nationwide strike is not bringing the desired result of silencing the severly oppressed Ethiopians.

On Tuesday 12 March 2013,   the year-long struggle for religious freedom reached a millstone when one of Ethiopia’s colorful Muslim tribes, the Afar, officially joined the national movment.

Six TPLF cadres and a police man murdered in Addis as tyrannized Ethiopians hit back

Posted On : March 18th, 2013 , (By Getahune Bekele, South Africa)

On Tuesday March 12, 2013 in Addis Ababa’s Bole area, residents of Bole Lemi and Hayatt Condominium zones have hit back with vengeance killing six suspected TPLF spies and one member of the brutal federal police after the horrific death of a local woman at the hands of  alleged government loyalists.

The number of the wounded is not given by the police but hospital sources said hundreds were treated for minor bruises and serious injuries in the city’s various medical facilities.

The area was under the control of enraged residents until Saturday 16 March 2013 and government officials are still trying to solve the deadly confrontation throughout the weekend.

The unnamed woman was a laborer at Bole Lemi cobblestone makers when a co-worker who residents say was a TPLF spy, cut off her breast after accusing her of stealing his cell phone. She died on the spot which sparked the under reported two days of anti TPLF riot.

According to our reliable sources both Cheffe and Bole Lemi zones have become no-go areas for the federal police and there is a strong possibility of further violence if the cobblestone makers try to return to work on Monday 18 March 2013.

The Horn Times relied on eye witnesses and residents to expose the turmoil as Ethiopian Television and radio choose to ignore the matter which took place at the door step of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.

However, the March 2013 Saturday issue of the independent Finotenetsanet newspaper shed some light on what had transpired, putting the number of the dead at eight, but the tabloid’s effort to get clarity from Bole area police wasn’t successful.

The number of those arrested by the federal police is also not known.

infohorntimes@gmail.com

መንግሥት ፖሊሶች በሚፈጽሙት ድብደባና የመብት ጥሰት ላይ ዕርምጃ እወስዳለሁ አለ                17 MARCH 2013 ተጻፈ በ  ዮሐንስ አንበርብ  

•    የዜጐችን ሰብዓዊ መብት ለማስከበር ረቂቅ መርሐ ግብር አቅርቧል

ሕግ የማስከበር ሥልጣን የተሰጣቸው አንዳንድ የፖሊስ አባላት የዜጐች የአካል ደኅንነት መብትን በመጣስ ድብደባና ሌሎች የሰብዓዊ መብት ጥሰቶች ስለሚፈጸሙ፣ ይህንንና ሌሎች የዜጐች መብቶችን ለማስከበር ትልቅ ትኩረት ሰጥቶ እንደሚሠራ መንግሥት ይፋ አደረገ፡፡

መንግሥት ይህንን ይፋ ያደረገው ለሕዝብ ተወካዮች ምክር ቤት ባቀረበው የቀጣይ ሦስት ዓመታት ብሔራዊ የሰብዓዊ መብት የድርጊት መርሐ ግብር ረቂቅ ዶክመንት ነው፡፡

‹‹የአካል ደኅንነት መብትና ኢሰብዓዊ አያያዝ ክልከላ›› በሚለው በዚህ የሦስት ዓመታት የድርጊት መርሐ ግብር ክፍል ውስጥ› የአገሪቱ ሕጐች ለዚህ መብት ጥበቃ ማድረግ የሚያስችል ድንጋጌዎችን እንደያዙ ይገልጻል፡፡

ማንኛውም ሰው ሰብዓዊ በመሆኑ የማይደፈርና የማይገሰስ የአካል ደኅንነት መብት ያለው መሆኑን፣ እንዲሁም ማንኛውም ሰው በአካሉ ላይ ጉዳት እንዳይደርስበት የመጠበቅ መብት እንዳለው በሕገ መንግሥቱ መደንገጉን ይገልጻል፡፡ ይህንን ሕገ መንግሥታዊ መብት በማስከበር ረገድ ብዙ ርቀት መሄድ ቢቻልም፣ ሙሉ ለሙሉ መተግበር እንዳልቻለ መንግሥት ግንዛቤ ያለው መሆኑን ይገልጻል፡፡

የኢትዮጵያ የሰብአዊ መብት ይዞታ

ኢትዮጵያ

የኢትዮጵያ የሰብአዊ መብት ይዞታ

የኢትዮጵያ መንግሥት በህገ መንግሥቱ የተቀመጡትን መሠረታዊ ሰብአዊና ዲሞክራሲያዊ መብቶች በማስጠበቅና በማስከበር ላይ እንደሚገኝ ይናገራል ። ይሁንና በህገ መንግሥቱ የተደነገጉ ሰብአዊና ዲሞክራሲያዊ መብቶች ፣ በሌሎች ህጎች ምክንያት ሊተገበሩ አልቻሉም ሲሉ የሰብዓዊ መብት ተሟጋቾች ስሞታ ያቀርባሉ ።

አለም አቀፍ የመብት ተከራካሪ ድርጅቶች የውጭ መንግሥታት የሐገር ውስጥ ተቃዋሚ ፓርቲዎችና መንግሥታዊ ያልሆኑ ድርጅቶች በኢትዮጵያ ሰብአዊና ዲሞክራሲያዊ መብቶች እንደማይከበሩ በተለያዩ ጊዜያት በሚያወጧቸው ዘገባዎች ይጠቁማሉ ። የኢትዮጵያ መንግሥት ግን እነዚህን ዘገባዎች አይቀበልም ። ይልቁንም በህገ መንግሥቱ የተቀመጡትን መሠረታዊ ሰብአዊና ዲሞክራሲያዊ መብቶች በማስጠበቅና በማስከበር ላይ እንደሚገኝ ይናገራል ። ይሁንና በህገ መንግሥቱ የተደነገጉ ሰብአዊና ዲሞክራሲያዊ መብቶች ፣ በሌሎች መብቶችን በሚጥሱ ህጎች ምክንያት ሊተገበሩ አልቻሉም ሲሉ የሰብዓዊ መብት ተሟጋቾች ድርጅቶችና የውጭ መንግሥታት እንዲሁም ተቃዋሚ የፖለቲካ ድርጅቶች ስሞታ ያቀርባሉ ። እነዚህ ወቀሳዎች የሚቀርቡበት መንግሥት በቅርቡ «ብሔራዊ የሰብአዊ መብቶች የድርጊት መርሃ ግብር » ያለውን ሠነድ አዘጋጅቷል ። በተወካዮች ምክር ቤት በቅርቡ ይፀድቃል ተብሎ የሚጠበቀው የዚህ የድርጊት መርሃ ግብር ፋይዳ ና የኢትዮጵያ የሰብአዊ መብት ይዞታ በመጪው እሁድ የሚተላለፈው እንወይ የመነጋገሪያ ነጥቦች ናቸው ። በነዚህ ጉዳዮች ላይ እንዲወያዩልን አምባሳደር ጥሩነህ ዜና የኢትዮጵያ የሰብዓዊ መብቶች ኮሚሽን ኮሚሽነር ፣ አቶ እንዳልካቸው ሞላ በቀድሞው አጠራሩ የኢትዮጵያ የሰብአዊ መብቶች ጉባኤ የአሁኑ የሰብአዊ መብቶች ጉባኤ ሃላፊ እንዲሁም አቶ ያሬድ ኃይለ ማርያም የኢትዮጵያ የሰብአዊ መብት አያያዝ ተመራማሪን ጋብዘናል ። ሙሉውን ውይይቱን ያድምጡ ።http://www.dw.de/

UNDP: Ethiopia ranks 173 out of 187 countries in the Human Development Index 2013

By Martha van der Wolf

Karsi Tadicha and her children stand next to their house in Bule Duba village, on the outskirts of Moyale, Ethiopia, June 2009.

March 17, 2013, ADDIS ABABA (VOA News) — The United Nations Development Program has released its 2013 Human Development Index. Despite recent economic growth, Ethiopia is still near the bottom of the index.

Ethiopia ranks 173 out of 187 countries in the Human Development Index 2013, unveiled by the United Nations Development Program, UNDP, on Friday.

The Index is part of the Human Development Report that is presented annually and measures life expectancy, income and education in countries around the world.

Since 2000, Ethiopia has registered greater gains than all but two other countries in the world – Afghanistan and Sierra Leone.  But it still ranks close to the bottom of the Index.

New Report reveals disparity in regional deve’t in Ethiopia, Tigray better in most variables

March 16, 2013 (De Birhan) — A new report titled “Agricultural Growth Program (AGP) of Ethiopia—Baseline Report 2011″ by the International Food Policy Research Institute – Ethiopia Strategy Support Program II, Ethiopia released today March 14, 2013 has revealed the existence of huge disparities in development among four major Regional States of Ethiopia. Tigary Region has fared better in most variables  compared to other Regions.

Djibouti: Migration Crossroads

Ms. Wiesner

By Catherine Wiesner

Catherine Wiesner serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration.

March 16, 2013 (US Department of State) –We hadn’t driven more than three dusty minutes before we encountered the first group of men clustered under a scraggly tree for shade, resting from their long journey on foot from Ethiopia. Here they waited for smugglers to take them to the boats they would use to attempt crossing the Red Sea to Yemen. I expected them to be more skittish, but the staff from the International Organization of Migration (IOM) explained that they are known to migrants as a helpful, friendly, and professional organization.

Keeping pastoralist children in school in Ethiopia

Children in pastoral regions often seasonally migrate with their families (file photo)

ADDIS ABABA, 15 March 2013 (IRIN) – Thousands of children in the pastoral regions of Ethiopia are dropping out of school despite government and donor efforts to bring schools closer to them. Recurrent natural disasters such as drought and flooding, as well as inter-ethnic clashes, are major factors in school dropouts.

In February, at least 17,000 primary school children in Ethiopia were reported to have dropped out since the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year, mainly due to drought-related migration.

In the northeastern Afar Region, some 15 schools have closed down due to a lack of water during the current dry season, affecting some 1,899 children, 29 percent of whom are girls, according to an 11 March update by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).