the morality police strike again

Hi there,

I hope you had a good weekend.

A good friend of mine, whom I met during my stint as an English teacher in China, is visiting this week. It’s been a really fun reunion. I also celebrated my birthday over the weekend, and I’m thrilled to report that it’s been the best one so far (thank you, N!).

High on the list of priorities for next week are the Round of 32 World Cup games; needless to say, I’ll be rooting for the remaining African teams.

My name is Maya Misikir, and I’m a freelance reporter based in Addis Abeba. I write Sifter, this newsletter where I send out the week’s top 5 human rights stories in Ethiopia.

Now, to the news.

There’s a lot that needs attention in Ethiopia’s Gambella region, not least of which is the urgent humanitarian situation that’s come with the recent influx of South Sudanese refugees.

The general state of (in)security is another, one that has previously devolved into more than a hundred people losing their lives over ethnically motivated killings and the region’s police commissioner being arrested by the Federal Police.

Yet, the region’s officials have decided the best use of their time is to promulgate laws over what women can and cannot wear. Last week, a regulation that fines women who wear short skirts for 3,000 ETB was put into place in the region’s Abobo wereda.

Why? To protect women from harassment, according to a news report by Deutsche Welle (DW). The report also adds that women sheltered in the Terkidi refugee camp, home to thousands of South Sudanese refugees, are not allowed to wear trousers.

Who exactly is behind this? The region’s Women, Children and Social Affairs Bureau. The head of the bureau added that this law was necessary since parents are also unable to control what clothes their children are wearing.

The full news report, in Amharic, on DW, here, and on Bistrat FM, also in Amharic, here.

The law on forced conscription in Ethiopia’s Tigray region “bears similarities” to Eritrea’s “abusive national service system”, says a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

These similarities include “coercive recruitment, indefinite military service, restrictions on freedom of movement, and punishment”.

This latest regulation by the region’s main political party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), comes “amid increasing tensions between the TPLF and the Ethiopian federal government”.

Here’s an excerpt from the report:

The security and mobilization proclamation contains vague and overly broad language that is open to abuse, and stipulates imprisonment and the death penalty as punishment for a range of offenses.

Things don’t look promising: both sides have continued to mobilize armed forces, the TPLF has kicked out representatives of the region’s interim administration (one of the pillars of the 2022 Cessation of Hostilities between the TPLF and the federal government), and the federal government is withholding budget subsidies to the region.

The full report on HRW, here.

In July last year, Doctors Without Borders (otherwise known as Médecins Sans Frontières or MSF) published an internal investigation on the death of three of its aid workers in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.

The investigation showed that the aid workers were killed despite being clearly identified as such. Nearly a year later, the Ethiopian government has yet to release “the outcomes of a credible and impartial investigation”.

Here’s an excerpt from the latest statement from MSF:

Maria, Tedros, and Yohannes lost their lives while providing lifesaving assistance to people in crisis. Their murder must not be forgotten, nor met with silence, just as attacks should not be normalised and enabled by impunity.

The full statement, from MSF, here.

Earlier in March, Bisle Omar, a TikToker from Ethiopia’s Somali region, was arrested. His detention at the time was on grounds of spreading hate speech (what else?).

Last week, Bisle was sentenced to five years and six months, according to a story on Addis Standard.

Here’s an excerpt from the story:

Ahmed-Yasin [his lawyer] told Addis Standard that the sentence was handed down following proceedings in Jigjiga. However, a family member said relatives were neither informed of the hearing in time nor able to attend the session in court, adding that the family currently does not know where Bisle is being held.

It is unclear what “exact charges the final conviction and sentence” were based upon, adds the story.

The full story on Addis Standard, here.

In last week’s newsletter, I had briefly mentioned the detention of Ethiopian journalist Salsawit Baynesagn.

After spending 14 days in detention, she has now been released, according to a news report on Ethiopia Observer (thanks for sharing, K!)

Here’s an excerpt from the story:

Baynesagn, an independent journalist active on TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube, had reportedly been held incommunicado during her detention.

Detaining her without a charge and failing to bring her to court within 48 hours is a rights violation.

It also serves as “a warning to Ethiopian journalists covering sensitive public issues”, said Angela Quintal, the Africa Director of The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

The full update on Ethiopia Observer here, and the statement from CPJ, here.

That’s all for this week. I’ll catch you next Monday.

In the meantime, if you know someone who might be interested in this, share and let them know!

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