DanChurchAid
Ethiopia
The Strong State
For many months, the government has worked on the bill which human rights experts consider one of the strictest of its kind in the world.
Many people in Ethiopian civil society dreaded in advance the consequences of the bill that an obedient parliament has now passed just as the government wanted.
Government control with associations
With this bill, the government has almost full discretionary power over the voluntary organisations in the country.
All associations and organisations must be registered and approved by the government, and an association may receive severe sentences if it is established without approval or if it commits minor mistakes in the administration.
Surveillance of human rights and peace organisations
The bill is especially aimed at organisations that are trying to secure human rights or are working for resolution of the country’s many internal conflicts.
The government has made it clear that it does not consider these issues a civil society concern, but that voluntary associations and organisations should focus on “disasters that need help and support”.
DanChurchAid’s work at risk
Due to the bill, DanChurchAid’s future in Ethiopia is at risk, as our long-term development programme is aimed at securing for instance
• Women’s right to participation in decision-making in the home and in the village
• Girls’ rights not to be circumcised or married away at the age of 10-11 years
• Poor farmers’ right to establish their own associations
In principle, the bill can be used against this type of issues.
The next few months will show how the Ethiopian government will implement the new bill.
Will the government close the associations that in practice are in charge of a large part of Ethiopian development activities?
Or is the bill only a means to threaten the Ethiopian organisations into line?
Lars Jørgensen, Country Coordinator for Ethiopia and Horn of Africa
Ethiopia
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