Amnesty Warns Ethiopia, Rwanda Not to Trade Rights for Growth
May 23, 2012
In the past seven years,
Ethiopia has sustained an 11 percent economic growth rate and substantially
reduced poverty among its 83 million citizens.
The country has gone to
great lengths to incorporate the United Nations Millennium Development Goals
into its national policy, enforced by an authoritarian ruling party that has
been in power for the last 20 years.
Amnesty Africa Program
Director Erwin van der Borght says these improvements have come at a cost.
“Certainly Ethiopia has
made progress in terms of its economic development, but in a way it has
neglected to respect and protect civil and political rights such as the right
to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly," said van der
Borght.
The Ethiopia chapter of
Amnesty's 2012 human rights report highlights key rights concerns in the
country, including legislation restricting rights organizations, and the
arrests of hundreds of opposition members and journalists.
Van der Borght says it
is in Ethiopia's own economic interest to loosen political restrictions.
“It's a given that a
strong opposition makes often a better government," he said. "And if
you don't allow that space for civil society or political opposition, then in
the longer term you may put at risk the progress you've made in terms of
development and economic growth.”
Van der Borght notes
that Tunisia and other North African countries rocked by the Arab Spring also
had fast-growing economies before the uprisings.
Amnesty International
has similar concerns for Rwanda.
The country has also
experienced rapid growth in the past few years, under the firm guidance of
President Paul Kagame and his party, the Rwandan Patriotic Front.
The World Bank named
Rwanda among the 10 most improved economies in 2010. This year, it was ranked the third easiest
place to do business in Africa this year.
The Amnesty
International report on Rwanda decries what he calls arbitrary arrests and
unfair convictions of government critics and the unlawful detention of
journalists.
But, van der Borght says
the country could improve if it finally enacted proposed reforms to reduce
state control of the media.|
“You could expect some
positive change," said van der Borght. "However, if you look at the
reality on the ground, we haven't seen any significant progress yet. Individuals
are still prosecuted under the same legislation that the government wants to
reform. So that's not a good sign.”
The media reform laws
are making their way through the Rwandan parliament and are expected to be
taken up by the senate soon.
posted by Mamadou Kouyate @ 10:43 AM
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