Chronicles of Abyssinian Crimes Against Oromo People

30 December 2012 | Oromia Online

(Unedited Compilations by Idris)

Introduction

I am glad Oromia Online decided to publish these chronicles. These chronicles are significant and the Abyssinians and particularly the Amhara must come to terms and account for events which are in the recent recollection of the Oromo people and serve as one of many obstacles to "Ethiopian Unity". While the Abyssinians and the chronicler of Abyssinian history Dr. Richard Pankhurst would like us to believe otherwise, history cannot be selectively ignored. Ethiopian unity cannot be achieved by disregard, deception, violence, intimidation, further victimization of the Oromo people and the glorification of Menelik, Haile Sellassie and their contemporaries and ignoring the facts surrounding the creation of the present Ethiopian State.

Make Human Rights Activism towards Protecting the Right to Dissent your New Year’s Resolution

December 29, 2012

2013 New Year’s Message from HRLHA

As the New Year approaches its entry, most people make their personal resolutions to better themselves or the lives of others. The quick search of some of the top resolutions made year after year includes living healthy, spending less and saving more, working for the better life of family, etc. The recurring theme of each resolution is the fact that everyone is to a great extent trying to make the upcoming year even better than the outgoing. On the occasion of the coming New Year, we would like to wish all a happy new year filled with joys. May the New Year bring you success, health and prosperity!

Ethiopia: Perpetrators of Human Rights are not Protectors of Human Rights

HRLHA – November 14, 2012

The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) strictly denounces that UN General Assembly elected Ethiopia on November 12, 2012 to serve in the UN human Rights Council for the next three years starting from January 1, 2013.

In the last two decades the Ethiopian Government led by EPRDF/TPLF has been repeatedly condemned by regional and international human rights organizations including US State Department and UN independent experts[1]and UN Special Rapporteurs for its heinous human rights crimes against its citizens.

Among others, the Ethiopian Government limits freedom of association and assembly particularly for members of opposition groups, and security forces have used/using excessive force to break up peaceful demonstrations and continue to restrict free press. Twenty one year’s poor human rights record of Ethiopian Government shows, thousands illegally detained, tortured, kidnapped, disappeared and or killed, who were members of opposition groups or accused of being insurgents. After the death of the late Prime Minister of Ethiopia Meles Zenawi the human rights suppression continued under his successor Prime Minster Hailemariam Dessalegn Government all over the country including the capital city Addis Ababa, regional states of Ogaden,  Oromia, Sidama, Amhara, Gambela and others.

Making Human Rights a Reality

November 4, 2012 (Ayyaantuu.com) 

How can we forever turn the tide on intolerance, discrimination, and extremism?

Introduction

We live in a world troubled by inequality and contradiction. Our Parliaments have outlawed a range of inhumane practices and passed laws intended to ensure fair treatment for all; yet human rights organizations remind us that for many of the world’s 6 billion human beings, life continues to be  a painful struggle for existence against injustice and abuse.
Given today’s modern sheen of civility, the particulars can alarm. In its Report of 2006, Amnesty International described significant human rights violations in 150 countries. The number of complaints to the European Court of Human Rights has soared from just over 1,000 in 1988 to 45,000 in 2005.

Preventing Genocide in Ethiopia

From left to right: Fayera Nagaraa (a torture survivor from Oromia), Phil Austin, Sara Dickson and Kaitlin Murphy (Interns from the Washington Center) during visit to the U.S. Congress on June 26, 2012.

July 22, 2012 (Ayyaantuu.com) I have the moral obligation to bring the Ethiopian crisis to your attention because Maryland University has recently released a report that Ethiopia is on a high risk of genocide, instability, and politicide. World Genocide Watch, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and many human rights groups and the media have also repeatedly warned the international community about the severe human rights abuses in Ethiopia. The Oromo Studies Association and Oromo Women’s Association have also written a letter of concern to President Barack Obama, to the leaders of major Western countries, the U.N. High Commission for Human Rights and the World Genocide Watch, etc.

The International Crisis Group (ICG) also advised donor countries to take governance problems more seriously but the international community never paid attention to their advance warnings about the Ethiopian crisis. Many human rights groups and the media have well articulated the Ethiopian crisis but it is the report of the ICG that has exposed Meles Zenawi’s Revolutionary Democracy. It is the best and well articulated report and synopsis of a report by the International Crisis Group (ICG) dated September 4, 2009, Ethiopia: Ethnic Federalism and its Discontents, may help to understand how this minority group has created an ultra-big government to control the state and people by the funds it obtains from donor nations, the IMF and the World Bank.

Harassments and Intimidations of Activists Continued Unabated in Ethiopia

Ethiopia: Harassments and Intimidations of Activists Continued Unabated in Ethiopia

HRLHA Press Release

Calls for Reversal of Politically Motivated Sentences

The Ethiopian TPLF/EPRDF Government has given the local and international community another huge shock by imposing long term imprisonments on 24 human rights activists, journalists, and opposition members including the prominent press freedom advocate Iskinder Nega.

An Ethiopian court on Friday 13th of July, 2012  jailed  journalist Iskinder Nega for 18 years for “terrorism” while five other exiled journalists and a blogger were sentenced in absentia to between 15 years and life in prison simply because of attempting to exercise some of the fundamental rights such as that of freedom of expression and association granted by the Constitution of the country; and the court was said to have referred to the recently legislated and controversial “anti-terrorism” law to hand down the penalties.

Deadly, Religiously Outrageous, and Socially Destructive Consequences of Land Grab in Western Ethiopia

Ethiopia

HRLHA – Press Release
June 7, 2012

Apart from displacements and dispossessions without consents and compensations, more and more negative consequences of land grab in the name of development are surfacing from time to time in different parts of Ethiopia; all outcries, criticisms and demands for corrective measures falling on deaf ears.

According to information obtained by HRLHA from Wixate locality in Yayyo District of Ilubabbor Zone in western Oromia, a teenager called Zerihun Girma has died after being buried alive in a man-made landslide created from a mountain of soil dumped along a small river in a residential area. The soil was coming from the digging into the ground for a coal mine project underway in the area.

Fifth Anniversary of HRLHA

A Speech at “Night to fight for human rights”
Dinner and Entertainment Event

By  Garoma Wakessa ;- Executive Director of HRLHA | May 5, 2012

Good evening and welcome to HRLHA’s “Night to fight for human rights” dinner and entertainment event.  It is, as always, an honor to be a part of this event and especially this year, as we celebrate HRLHA’s fifth anniversary.

I have a number of people to thank tonight on behalf of myself and Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa.

First, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all who worked on Fundraising committee, and as Volunteers to put this event together,

Thanks to sisters who offered us a delicious dinner covering all expenses by themselves,

Thanks to HRLHA Board members for the service they are rendering to this organization.

Oromia: Burqaa is Breaking the Conspiracy of Silence

Oromo torture survivors will join other survivors from around the world, Human Rights Organizations and educational institutions to tell the brutality of the TPLF regime. They will give testimonies about their experiences and that of other Oromos who did not have the chance tp tell their stories. The prison didn’t only speak Oromiffa but also the TPLF prison was hell on earth for Oromos. We repeatedly reported that about 50 % of survivors come from that brutal empire – Ethiopia.

The tentative schedule we obtained from the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition (TASSC) International is as follows:

Join TASSC International in June to Commemorate Survivor Week

BE PART OF THE SOLUTION…..

This June will mark the 15th anniversary of TASSC International’s June Survivor Week. We invite you to participate in our activities during the week, and to organize a local commemoration on June 26 in recognition of the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

During the week, survivors will be participating in a three day human rights training, and lobby Congress on Wednesday, June 20.

Schedule of activities for the Washington DC Metropolitan area include the following public events:

Thursday morning, June 21, 9 am – 12 noon, Catholic University: Campaign to End Torture, Enforced Disappearance and Impunity

Sudan – Asylum Seekers are entitled to Protection not Detention

Fear of Torture and Deportation, HRLHA Appeal and Urgent Action | March 18, 2012

His Excellency Lieutenant General Omar Hasan Al-Bashir
President of the Republic Sudan,
President’s Palace,
PO Box 281,
Khartoum, Sudan
Fax: (00 249) 11 771651, (00 249) 11 787676, (00 249) 11 783223

Dear Honorable President,

First of all, Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) would like to express its appreciation to the people of the Republic of Sudan and to its government for their hospitality and kindness over so many years towards thousands of refugees who have fled their homes to escape government persecutions in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and other neighboring countries at different times and now living in Sudan.

Ethiopia: Human rights work crippled by restrictive law

March 12, 2012 (Amnesty International) – A law in Ethiopia is crippling human rights work in the country, forcing organizations to cut programmes, close offices and lay off staff, according to an Amnesty International report published today.

“Stifling human rights work: the impact of Ethiopia’s civil society legislation” describes how the 2009 Charities and Societies Proclamation puts in place restrictions on organizations working on human rights and allows for excessive government interference. The result is that people in the country have less access to independent human rights assistance.

“Rather than creating an enabling environment for human rights defenders to work in, the government has implemented a law which has crippled human rights work in Ethiopia” said Michelle Kagari, Amnesty International’s deputy Africa director.

“The space to make legitimate criticism is more restricted than ever.”

The law places severe funding restrictions on organizations working on human rights which are at the same time vaguely worded and therefore open to interpretation. Human rights defenders risk imprisonment if they violate these vaguely defined provisions. They are afraid to speak out, and often resort to self-censorship, in order to avoid repercussions.