To make Poverty History Make Human Rights Violati...

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Author: Make Dictators History

Started: December 10, 2005, 7:17:22 pm

Target: To whom it may concern

Category: Civil & Human Rights

Supporters:

Goal:

100,000

Goal Progress:

Status

Active

Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. (Article 21of UN Declaration on Human rights)

It was to exercise this fundamental democratic right that a full 90% of registered voters went to the polls in the May 2005 elections in Ethiopia. By doing so the Ethiopian people demonstrated their faith in democracy.

As was witnessed by international observers, including the EU Election Observers Mission and the Carter centre, the process went well up to Election Day. The problems, which led to unrest in the following weeks and months, surfaced when the government, alarmed by its very poor showing at the polls, delayed the publication of the result until August and took measures to undermine votes obtained by opposition parties. This provoked peaceful protests by the people and in turn led to a massive crackdown by government security forces. Nearly a hundred innocent citizens were killed in Addis Abba and other major cities during peaceful demonstrations in early June and November. Government security forces conducted house-to-house searches and arrested thousands of people sympathising with opposition. Opposition political party leaders, journalist working for the independent press, human rights activists, and leaders of civil society organisations and ordinary citizens are harassed, detained, humiliated, beaten, and killed. Stories of atrocities committed against ordinary citizens are being told across Ethiopia.

International observers, including the EU observers’ mission, have reported that these elections did neither live up to the democratic aspirations of the people of Ethiopia nor meet international standards.

We therefore call upon the United Nations Secretary General, president of African Union, European Union and Member States leaders and the President of the USA to fulfil their obligation by calling for the respect of fundamental individual and collective rights including freedom of opinion, freedom of expression, the right to hold meetings and peaceful demonstration, the right of association which are all enshrined in the UN charter but denied to the people of Ethiopia.

We fear that if the current violations of human rights are not redressed as a matter of utmost urgency and if the democratisation process is brought to a halt the country may plunge into yet another civil war with disastrous consequences for its people and the entire region.

We believe that Ethiopians need to move forward with the spirit of reconciliation that is why the Ethiopian authorities should abide by their international obligation to respect human rights and release all political detainees. To this end, we think it is important to set up an international fact finding mission that would investigate into serious human rights violations.

We believe that in order to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals and make poverty history, Human Rights violations should be made History First.

Launched on the Occasion of the International Human Rights Day, 10 December 2005
Signatories

James Nicholls said 03/27/06, 1:20 am (verified)

I support this petition. Poverty will remain a problem as long as these torturous b******s remain in power. There's no point having food if you're just going to be tortured or killed in the near future. In my view world human rights is more important than feeding the world.