Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 19:37:39 +0200
Ethiopian farmer takes UK to court over 'brutal' resettlement policy
Legal battle launched after man claims he was evicted from his farm and
beaten under villagisation scheme funded by UK aid
* Annie Kelly <http://www.theguardian.com/profile/anniekelly>
* theguardian.com <http://www.theguardian.com/> ,
* Tuesday 15 July 2014 12.54 BST
The UK's
<https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-international-de
velopment> Department for International Development (DfID) is to face a full
judicial review over its alleged funding of rights abuses in
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/ethiopia> Ethiopia.
On Monday, a high court judge ruled that "Mr O", an Ethiopian farmer who
claims that British aid helped fund a brutal forced resettlement programme
in his home country, has an arguable case against the UK government.
His lawyers argue there is evidence that British aid contributions to
Ethiopia's promotion of basic services (PBS) programme has helped support
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/06/britain-supporting-dictatorshi
p-in-ethiopia> its controversial villagisation programme, which aims to move
1.5 million rural families from their land to new "model" villages across
the country.
Since it was launched in 2010, <http://> the resettlement programme has been
dogged by allegations of forced evictions, rapes, beatings and
disappearances.
Ethiopia
<http://www.worldbank.org/content/dam/Worldbank/document/Africa/Ethiopia/et-
q-a-ethiopia-s-promoting-basic-services-pbs-iii-program.pdf> is one of the
biggest recipients of British aid and the UK is a major donor to its PBS
programme, which is intended to improve access to education, healthcare and
other services for poor and nomadic people. However,
<http://www.theguardian.com/law/human-rights> human rights campaigners say
British money is also being used to pay the salaries and administrative
costs of the officials running the relocation scheme.
Mr O, who is represented in his action against the UK government by the
London-based firm
<http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/jul/15/www.leighday.co.u
k> Leigh Day, claims he was violently evicted from his farm in the Gambella
region in 2011. He says he was beaten and that he witnessed rapes and
assaults as government soldiers cleared people off their land.
He has told his lawyers that he was forced to resettle in a new village
where he and others were given no access to farmland, food or water and
where they could not make enough money to feed their families. He has since
moved to Kenya.
After assessing his case, Mr Justice Warby gave permission for Mr O's
lawyers to argue at a full judicial review that the UK government violated
its human rights policies by failing to have systems in place to properly
investigate and respond to reports of human rights violations linked to the
villagisation programme.
He added that under current legislation the UK government had a legal
obligation to respect and uphold human rights, and that Mr O's case deserved
a full hearing.
Leslie Lefkow, deputy <http://www.theguardian.com/world/africa> Africa
director at
<http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/jul/15/%5bhttp:/www.hrw.
org/africa/ethiopia%5d> Human Rights Watch, said: "The UK is providing more
than £300m a year in aid to Ethiopia while the country's human rights record
is steadily deteriorating." DfID, she said, had made little or no effort to
interview people affected by villagisation, many of whom have become
refugees in neighbouring countries.
Lefkow described the ruling as a first step: "It should be a wake-up call
for the government and other donors that they need rigorous monitoring to
make sure their development programmes are upholding their commitments to
human rights."
A spokesman for DfID said the UK had never funded the Ethiopian resettlement
programmes, adding: "Our support to the protection of basic services
programme is only used to provide essential services like healthcare,
schooling, and clean water."
MDG : A traditional homestead in Gambella, the remote region of western
Ethiopia
A traditional homestead in Gambella, the remote region of western Ethiopia
where many villagers have been cleared from their land. Photograph: Alamy
(image/jpeg attachment: image001.jpg)