The Stakes Couldn’t Be Higher in Ethiopia: Daily Brief
Millions of lives at risk after expulsion of key United Nations aid officials from Ethiopia; the United Arab Emirates tries to whitewash its abysmal human rights record; women, journalists and free speech under threat in Afghanistan; pro-migrant Italian mayor jailed for “abetting illegal migration”; better protection of farmworker children needed in the US; and help us ensure that enough ramps are available for people with disabilities ahead of Iraq’s elections.
In a crushing blow to the humanitarian aid response in Ethiopia’s war-torn Tigray region, Ethiopian authorities have ordered the expulsion of seven senior United Nations officials on Thursday, two days after the UN’s aid chief warned that northern Ethiopia is sliding into famine because the government is blocking aid deliveries to the region. An emergency UN Security Council meeting will discuss the decision behind closed doors today. Over five million people in Ethiopia’s Tigray region are dependent on UN aid. The expulsion comes shortly before government leaders will gather in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa next week for the formation of a new government by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
United Arab Emirates authorities are using Expo 2020 Dubai as yet another opportunity to present the UAE as open, tolerant, and rights-respecting while dozens of UAE peaceful domestic critics have been arrested, railroaded in blatantly unfair trials, and condemned to many years in prison simply for trying to express their ideas on governance and human rights.
Taliban authorities are not only severely curtailing the rights of women in Afghanistan but also imposing wide-ranging restrictions on media and free speech. The new regulations are so sweeping that journalists are self-censoring and fear ending up in prison. Foreign governments should make it clear that the Taliban’s treatment of women and the media will remain a core concern of future relations.
Domenico Lucano, the 63-year-old former mayor of Riace, a small town in the southern Calabria region of Italy, has been sentenced to more than 13 years in jail for abetting illegal migration and for “irregularities” in managing the asylum seekers. Lucano, known locally as Mimmo, was hailed in 2016 by Fortune magazine as one of the world’s 50 greatest leaders for having revitalised his community by welcoming and integrating migrants.
More child workers die while working in US agriculture than in any other US industry. Yet, an assessment of the situation of farmworker children in the US was conspicuously absent from this week’s US Department of Labor’s (DOL) annual global report evaluating 131 countries and territories on their efforts to end the worst forms of child labor. Changes to US law and regulations to protect child farmworkers are long overdue. It’s high time the US government and DOL end child labor and make hazardous occupations off limits to children under 16 to ensure at least the youngest child farmworkers are protected.
And lastly: Ten days until the Iraq elections, and still most polling places are inaccessible to many people with disabilities. Help us pressure the Electoral Commission to build more ramps so that people with disabilities can vote.