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Eritrea Ethiopia and the State of Democracy: Effects on Human Rights and Humanitarian Conditions in the Ogaden and Somalia Human Rights Watch Testimony at a Hearing of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Thank you Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, for providing Human Rights Watch this opportunity to voice our concerns about the dire, and deteriorating, human rights and humanitarian situation in the Horn of Africa, and particularly in regard to Somalia and the Somali region of Ethiopia. October 2, 2007 Testimony Printer friendly version Somalia: War Crimes in Mogadishu UN Should Address Civilian Protection Ethiopian, Somali and insurgent forces are all responsible for rampant violations of the laws of war in Mogadishu, causing massive suffering for the civilian population, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Human Rights Watch urged the UN Security Council during its current deliberations on Somalia to include a strong civilian protection mandate in any peacekeeping mission. August 13, 2007 Press Release Also available in 
Printer friendly version Ethiopia: Crackdown in East Punishes Civilians Warring Parties Must Respect Laws of War, Ensure Humanitarian Access The Ethiopian military has forcibly displaced thousands of civilians in the country’s eastern Somali region in recent weeks while escalating its campaign against a separatist insurgency movement, Human Rights Watch said today. Both the government and rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) must protect civilians and ensure their access to humanitarian relief. July 4, 2007 Press Release Printer friendly version HRW Letter to Kenyan Director of Political Affairs Thomas Amolo Human Rights Watch letter (March 22, 2007) to Amolo requesting further details regarding issues of concern related to the Somalia crisis, particularly the arbitrary detention, deportation, and apparent enforced disappearance of dozens of individuals who fled Somalia in December 2006 and January 2007. March 30, 2007 Letter Printer friendly version People Fleeing Somalia War Secretly Detained Kenya, US and Ethiopia Cooperate in Secret Detentions and Renditions Kenya, Ethiopia, the United States and the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia cooperated in a secret detention program for people who had fled the recent conflict in Somalia, Human Rights Watch said today. March 30, 2007 Press Release Also available in
Printer friendly version Ethiopia and Eritrea: Promoting Stability, Democracy and Human Rights Testimony to U.S. House of Representatives Michael Clough, Africa Advocacy Director for Human Rights Watch, testified before Congress regarding the human rights situations in Ethiopia and Eritrea based on reporting from two recent missions to Ethiopia by HRW researchers and ongoing monitoring of human rights conditions in Eritrea. May 5, 2005 Testimony Printer friendly version Eritrea: Refugees Involuntarily Repatriated from Libya Letter to President Issayas Afewerki Human Rights Watch is deeply concerned about the treatment of more than one hundred Eritrean citizens forcibly repatriated from Libya during the last two weeks of July. August 3, 2004 Letter Printer friendly version Eritrean Refugees in Danger of Deportation from Libya Letter to Mu'ammar al-Gadaffi Human Rights Watch has learned that your government may be in the process of forcibly returning Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers in Libya to Eritrea, where they face unlawful detention and probable torture. We have received reports that Eritreans are currently being held in Kufra, Misurath, and Tripoli in anticipation of mass deportation to Eritrea. July 22, 2004 Letter Printer friendly version Eritrea: Release Political Prisoners The Eritrean government should release political prisoners and allow for freedom of the press, Human Rights Watch said on the second anniversary of a major crackdown against civil society. Eritrea's practice of arbitrary arrests and detentions continues to this day. September 17, 2003 Press Release Printer friendly version The Horn of Africa War Mass Expulsions and the Nationality Issue Citizens and residents expelled by both Ethiopia and Eritrea during their 1998-2000 border war should be offered repatriation and the restoration of citizenship, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 64-page report, “The Horn of Africa War: Mass Expulsions and the Nationality Issue,” recounts the plight of almost one hundred thousand citizens and residents of both countries who were uprooted and deprived of their residence and nationality without a semblance of due process. It documents cases of mistreatment typical of the mass expulsions, including prolonged detention, lack of food, water, and medical care, beatings, and other physical abuse. With final demarcation of the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea set to take place in May, there is hope that peace will hold between the two countries. For tens of thousands of Ethiopians and Eritreans, though, the human rights consequences of the war are still devastating. HRW Index No.: A1503 January 30, 2003 Report Download PDF Purchase online Letter to President George W. Bush Dear Mr. President, In recent weeks, the Eritrean government has lobbied the United States to use Eritrea's Red Sea ports as military bases in the war against terrorism. Secretary Rumsfeld left open the possibility during his trip to Asmara in December. Human Rights Watch is deeply concerned about the impact a deepening U.S. military relationship with Eritrea might have on efforts to end the Eritrean government's gross abuses of civil and political rights - abuses which not only harm the Eritrean people but undermine the struggle against terrorism. December 20, 2002 Letter Eritrea: Cease Persecution of Journalists and Dissidents The Eritrean government should immediately release nine jailed journalists who have been in detention without charge since September 2001, Human Rights Watch said today. May 16, 2002 Press Release Also available in
Printer friendly version Escalating Crackdown in Eritrea Reformists, Journalists, Students At Risk The government of Eritrea has intensified a major crackdown on its opponents in recent days, Human Rights Watch charged today. September 21, 2001 Press Release Printer friendly version Eritrea: Child Soldiers Global Report 2001 From the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers It is widely acknowledged that children were used as soldiers by Eritrea in the war of independence against Ethiopia. Children may have participated in the border conflict since 1998, in part due to lack of systematic birth registration. Recruits as young as 14 were reportedly used as reinforcements after Eritrea experienced massive military losses. Reports of a major new recruitment drive including children since the signing of the December 2000 peace accord have not been confirmed. June 12, 2001 Multi Country Report Eritrea: Landmine Monitor Report 2000 Key developments since March 1999: In the 1998-2000 border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, it appears that tens of thousands of new mines were laid. Each government has alleged that the other laid mines, and observers have expressed concern that both sides may have used mines. While Landmine Monitor cannot verify use by Eritrea, there are serious, independent reports of use of antipersonnel mines by Eritrean forces. August 1, 2000 Multi Country Report Academic Leaders Urge Ethiopia To Release Detained Eritrean Exchange Students In an open letter today to President Gidada, the Human Rights Watch Academic Freedom Committee calls on the Ethiopian government to release over eighty Eritrean exchange students currently being held at an Ethiopian military base outside Addis Ababa. July 29, 1998 Press Release Printer friendly version HRW Urges Eritrea And Ethiopia To Stop Targeting Civilians Human Rights Watch today condemned attacks on civilians during the current conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia. June 17, 1998 Press Release Printer friendly version Eritrea Freedom of Expression and Ethnic Discrimination in the Educational System: Past and Future During the period of Ethiopian rule in Eritrea (1962-91), a systematic policy of denying educational freedoms to Eritreans was followed. This ranged beyond stifling freedom of thought to a sustained attempt to dismantle the educational system and block the emergence of a university serving Eritreans. These policies were part of the wider political aim of the governments of the Emperor Haile Selassie and Colonel (later President) Mengistu Haile Mariam to suppress any manifestation of Eritrean dissent or nationalism. The abuses against educational freedom during the last years of Mengistu's rule may appear relatively mild. There were comparatively few detentions of academics and teachers, and no executions solely for the exercise of academic or educational freedom. Asmara University, although transferred to the interior part of Ethiopia when the fighting around the city intensified, remained functionalCalbeit in a limited wayCuntil only three months before the final demise of the Mengistu government in May 1991. However, during the previous three decades, successive Ethiopian governments had so systematically suppressed educational freedom in Eritrea that all signs of independent thought or action had been totally eliminated. Resting upon this destructive achievement, little additional pressure was needed to ensure that the educational system remained in quiescent conformity with the government's aims. January 12, 1993 Report Download PDF, 89 KB, 8 pgs Printer friendly version Defending the Earth Abuses of Human Rights and the Environment This report is the result of an unprecedented joint effort between two leading citizen advocacy organizations: a human rights group, Human Rights Watch; and an environmental group, the Natural Resources Defense Council. As one who has been for 14 years privileged to be involved with both, I have long believed that a cooperative effort such as this one will enhance both causes significantly. Abuses of human rights often exist in tandem with environmental degradation. Suppression of dissent -- often violent -- is frequently employed by governments to silence opposition to harmful political and social policies and development schemes that could not withstand public scrutiny, and to forestall public concern about environmental decay. The case studies in this report demonstrate a linkage between human rights and environmental abuses that is global in scope, occurring in both industrialized and developing countries. Issuing this joint report at the time of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro will focus attention on the relationship, often causal, between human rights and environmental abuses. We also hope that it marks the start of future exchanges between the two groups of advocates, so that both causes will benefit from an expanded constituency for their concerns. June 1, 1992 Report Download PDF, 570 KB, 144 pgs Printer friendly version
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