February
6, 2015 (UNPO) — On 4 February 2015, the Unrepresented Nations and
Peoples Organization (UNPO) in cooperation with the Ogaden National
Liberation Front (ONLF), hosted by Ana Gomes MEP (S&D) and Julie
Ward MEP (S&D) at the European Parliament in Brussels, welcomed a
number of international guests to speak about the serious issues facing
minority groups in Ethiopia, particularly ethnic minority women. At the
event titled ‘Minority Women’s Rights: An Ethiopian Inferno?’,
participants spoke about the systematic persecution of Ogaden and Oromo
ethnic groups in Ethiopia by the ruling regime; combining expert
analysis and personal accounts to not only share views, but also help
plot a course of action.In his
Mr Busdachin then passed the floor to Julie Ward MEP who spoke of her political concerns surrounding the use of aid funds in the Ethiopian regime’s policy of systematic violence used against Ethiopian minorities, particularly women. Ms Ward said that the violence in Ethiopia is “causing a fractured society” and causing sections of this society to crumble like a house of cards. She said that the use of violence in any country makes minority women particularly vulnerable as the
Ana
Gomes MEP then extrapolated on the points made by Ms Ward by talking
about the inherent lack of transparency in the Ethiopian governance
structure. Drawing on her personal experiences of visiting Addis Ababa,
Ms Gomes talked about the Ethiopian regime’s ability to use politically
correct language and let the international 
The first panel Divide and Conquer – State Sanctioned Repression in Ethiopia was
opened by Mr Abdullahi Mohamed of the African Rights Monitor, who gave
an account of Ethiopia’s non-compliance with several international human
rights conventions. Mr Mohamed described how the Ethiopian regime has
signed many international human rights conventions but continuously
fails to follow through with any of the recommendations made by
international actors regulating convention implementation. Among these
are examples of Ethiopian unwillingness to submit mandatory reports –
the 2011 Ethiopian state review requested by the Committee on Civil and
Political Rights was 17 years late – and the regular denial of access to
minority regions to UN monitoring groups and special rapporteurs. Mr
Mohamed also highlighted the pressing need for Ethiopia to allow access
to minority regions such as Ogaden for international humanitarian
organisations whose continued absence from the area is causing serious
humanitarian crises.The next speaker was Mr Abdullahi Hussein, former head of the Ethiopian state media, who had managed to smuggle over 100 hours of footage to Sweden when he fled his home country, appalled by the brutal crimes committed by the regime he had worked for. He presented his findings from the footage and personal accounts of what he experienced. His moving story recounted how he progressed in the governance structure of Ethiopia and became increasingly exposed to military fear tactics and persecution in minority areas such as the Ogaden region. He spoke of media dominance by the regime and the smokescreen that is created to prevent the outside world learning of serious persecutions that take place, especially with regard to sexual violence used against women in the infamous Prison Ogaden.
The floor was then given to Mr Ato Abebe Bogale, Vice-Chairman of the Ethiopian political opposition movement Ginbot 7, who expressed his exasperation that despite the myriad human rights reports and empty words of foreign powers, no concrete action is being taken. He stressed the extent to which systematic persecution of political opposition, minority groups and women has permeated throughout all levels of governance in Ethiopia and is a pandemic that needs to be stopped. He called on the EU to stop focusing on the apparent economic improvements that are being made in the country and to consider the human cost of achieving positive growth figures saying, “for the sake of humanity and for the betterment of Ethiopia and Africa, please stop helping the dictatorship within the country”. Mr Bogale’s speech was followed by Ms Dorothée Cambou, PhD candidate at the Free University of Brussels (VUB) specialising in the rights of indigenous groups. Ms Cambou contextualised the actions of the Ethiopian government within its national, regional and international legal obligations, and emphasised the land rights of indigenous peoples in relation to development projects.
The first speaker on the second panel Victims of Politics – Women in Ogaden and Oromia
was Ms Juweria Bixi Ali who, on behalf of young Ogaden women in
Ethiopia, spoke of the vulnerability that minority women in Ethiopia
experience being the targets of the dictatorship’s attempts to break the
will of ethnic minorities in the country. She spoke passionately about
the horrors that minority women experience at the hands of military
personnel who are specifically trained how to rape and abuse women in
order to “shame the men and disgrace the women”. Ms Ali described how
the military use tactics of sexual violence and orchestrated starvation
against women in particular in order to instil the maximum amount of
fear in a people.Following Ms Ali was Mr Graham Peebles, a freelance journalist who had visited the Ogaden and surrounding regions on a number of occasions. He spoke of many of the interviews that he had conducted with both the victims and confessed perpetrators of these crimes. He spoke of how orchestrated rape and fear tactics have become a norm in Ethiopia, and the horrors that he spoke of are by no means isolated cases. He described that no woman, particularly those of targeted ethnic groups, is safe from the state sponsored persecution. He concluded with yet another plea to the EU to eliminate their hypocritical practices of providing financial support to this regime and questioned how donor countries around the world could have a clear conscience when supporting such blatant criminality.
The floor was then passed to Dr Baro Keno Deressa who gave a chilling account of the medical issues that occur from regular use of rape against women. He described how rape that is used for extracting information, political terror and as a reward for soldiers does not only undermine the social standing of women but can cause terrible, untreatable medical conditions that victims have to live with for the rest of their lives, including HIV transmission and genital deformation. He also outlined that the rape tactics used by the Ethiopian government against Oromo women are destroying the traditional social fabric of the Oromo people, creating a large gap in gender equality in a people that are traditionally egalitarian and have a long and proud history of democratic values.
The final speaker of the panel was Dr Badal Hassan, representative of the ONLF, who called on the Ethiopian regime to remove all suffering and oppression that his people face and allow them to pursue their right to self-determination. He summarised the main facts surrounding the persecution of the Ogaden and Oromo peoples: tens of thousands of civilian executions, tortures, rapes and forced migration. He also spoke of the persecutions that Ethiopia conducts against Ogaden and Oromo people who have fled to neighbouring countries making this an international issue rather than a domestic problem. He concluded by calling on all Ethiopians, regardless of ethnicity or religion, to unite and raise their collective voices against oppression.
Ms Ana Gomes MEP closed the panel discussion by reaffirming her commitment to take the issues that had been raised to the relevant parliamentary committees and push for promises to be made and firm action to be taken. Although she said it may be a slow process, she urged everyone present, especially the Ethiopian diaspora to “get united, bold, loud and active”, assuring that there are politicians like herself and Ms Julie Ward who will listen, and in time, will make others listen too.
UNPO is fully committed to work towards raising the issues of human rights and democracy in Ethiopia with all relevant international stakeholders and demand concrete action to address the persecution of innocent civilians; be they Ogadeni, Oromo, or from any other ethnic group. The 4 February conference at the European Parliament was an important first step in the right direction, but much more remains to be done to overcome the silent complicity of Western donors in relation to the Ethiopian inferno.
Source: UNPO
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