Citizen Dialogue

Two new proposals from the government of Ethiopia will make it illegal to work on democracy and human rights in the country. Human Right Watch, warns about the issue on their website.

The law is ostensibly a tool for enhancing the transparency and accountability of civil society organizations. But in fact, its provisions would create a complex web of arbitrary restrictions on the work civil society groups can engage in, onerous bureaucratic hurdles, draconian criminal penalties, and intrusive powers of surveillance.

In Human Rights Watch’s view, the intended and actual result of this law would be to make it nearly impossible for any civil society organization to carry out work the government does not approve of. It also contravenes fundamental human rights guaranteed by international law and by Ethiopia’s constitution. Most notably, the law would criminalize human rights-related work carried out by non-Ethiopian organizations while at the same time making it impossible for domestic human rights organizations to operate with any real degree of effectiveness or independence.

Any organizations and international donors have strongly protested against the law and say this will largely affect Ethiopia’s ability to receive development aid.

I think that Ethiopia have showed many progressive signs in the past and I hope this law not pass the parliament.