http://www.voanews.com/content/hrw-transparency-group-should-reject-ethiopias-membership-bid/1870946.html
HRW: Transparency Group Should Reject Ethiopia's Membership Bid
VOA News
March 14, 2014
Human Rights Watch said Ethiopia should not be allowed to join a major
global initiative that encourages governments to better manage natural
resource revenues.
The human rights group said Friday Ethiopia should be banned from becoming
a member of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative - EITI.
HRW's senior business and human rights researcher, Lisa Misol, said
Ethiopia's "harsh repression" of independent voices is "utterly
incompatible" with the global effort to increase public oversight over
government.
EITI was founded to strengthen governance by increasing transparency over
revenues from the oil, gas and mining industries. It is expected to make a
decision on Ethiopia's candidacy next week at a meeting in Oslo.
Ethiopia attempted to join the transparency group in 2010, but was rejected.
HRW said that membership bid was rebuffed because of concerns about what
the rights group described as a "draconian" 2009 Ethiopian law, which is
still in effect. HRW says the Proclamation on Charities and Society Law
"sharply limits" the activities of independent groups.
Supporters of Ethiopia's EITI membership want the group's board to overturn
its 2010 decision.
HRW's Misol say that move would be absurd. She said if Ethiopia is granted
membership, it would be "a reward for Ethiopia's effort to dismantle and
silence civil society, providing a perverse incentive for other governments
to do the same thing."
Received on Fri Mar 14 2014 - 07:13:59 EDT