Ethiopia: Transparency Group Should Reject Membership

Repression of Civil Society Contravenes Organization’s Rules


Human Rights Watch
March 14, 2014

(New York, March 14, 2014) – A
major global initiative to encourage governments to better manage natural
resource revenues should reject Ethiopia’s bid for membership due to its harsh restrictions
on civil society, Human Rights Watch said today.

The governing board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)
is expected to make a decision about Ethiopia’s candidacy at its next meeting, on
March 18 and 19, 2014, in Oslo. EITI was founded in 2003 to strengthen governance by increasing
transparency over revenues from the oil, gas, and mining industries. Its
members include countries, companies, and civil society representatives.

“The Ethiopian government has crushed activist groups and muzzled the media,”
said Lisa Misol, senior business and human rights researcher at Human Rights Watch.
“Ethiopia’s harsh repression of independent voices is utterly incompatible with
this global effort to increase public oversight over government.”

An earlier effort by Ethiopia to join the transparency group was rebuffed in
2010 out of concerns over a draconian 2009 law, still in effect, that sharply
limits the activities of independent groups. Civil society representatives on
EITI’s board said that the law contravened the initiative’s standards that make
the free and active participation of independent organizations
a requirement for a country to join.

The board deferred the decision, and suggested that it would not
reconsider “until the Proclamation on Charities and Society Law is no longer in
place.”

Supporters of Ethiopia’s membership, including Clare Short, the former United
Kingdom minister who has been the group’s chair since 2011, have recently
pressed the board to overturn its 2010 decision. On February 28, Short publicly endorsed Ethiopia’s candidacy and criticized
those who opposed its membership in an unprecedented open letter to civil society members of the board. She
argued for loosening the group’s rules and claimed that civil society in
Ethiopia favored her position, even though nongovernmental organizations in the
country cannot risk criticizing the government.

“It’s absurd to suggest that Ethiopia deserves to join EITI because it has
civil society support after the government has systematically intimidated
groups into submission,” Misol said. “EITI would
become a reward for Ethiopia’s effort to dismantle and silence civil society,
providing a perverse incentive for other governments to do the same thing.”

Ethiopia’s repressive laws and policies have severely undermined independent
activists and organizations in the country. Many organizations have been forced
to greatly reduce their activities, others engage in self-censorship, and still
others have had to close down. Several of the country’s leading activists have
fled the country due to threats. New government-backed nongovernmental
organizations have formed. One group that supports the government’s drive to
join EITI is a journalism union described as “government-controlled” by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The 2009 Proclamation on Charities and Society Law curtails the independence of nongovernmental organizations
in Ethiopia, particularly groups that scrutinize the government. It forbids
national organizations from receiving more than 10 percent of their funds from
foreign donors if they engage in human rights, advocacy, conflict resolution,
or governance activities. The law also bars organizations from activities
related to state policy, functioning, and accountability.

It established a regulatory body, the Charities and Societies Agency, with
broad discretion to arbitrarily cancel organizations’ registration and to levy
fines and criminal charges against their personnel.

To join EITI, Ethiopia should be required to repeal or substantially amend the
2009 proclamation to eliminate problematic clauses that limit foreign funding,
restrict certain types of activities, and grant far-reaching powers to a
government agency to regulate activities of independent groups, Human Rights
Watch said. Additional preconditions should be tied to media freedom and respect for other fundamental rights necessary for open public debate on
natural resource topics.

“Admitting Ethiopia into EITI now would send a terrible signal about the
initiative’s commitment to core principles about the participation of civil
society,” Misol said. “The board should insist on
meaningful reforms in Ethiopia so that the government demonstrates its
commitment to the initiative’s principles and rules before it is admitted.”