http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/dec/21/dfid-human-rights-=
ethiopia
DfID under fire for poor response to human rights concerns in Ethiopia
Aid officials accused of failing to fully investigate reports of abuse
by Ethiopian authorities against ethnic groups
Annie Kelly and Liz Ford
guardian.co.uk, Friday 21 December 2012 09.36 EST
Britain's Department for International Development (DfID) is under
fire for failing to adequately address allegations of human rights
abuses in Ethiopia, a major recipient of UK aid.
During a trip to South Omo in January, officials from DfID and the US
international aid agency, USAid, were told by men and women from the
Mursi and Bodi ethnic groups of incidences of rape, arrests,
withholding food aid, intimidation and threats as the Ethiopian
government seeks to evict people from their land to make way for
commercial investments.
Audio transcripts of meetings, seen by the Guardian, record the aid
officials acknowledging the severity of the violence the farmers say
they have experienced. "They [government soldiers] =85 took the wives of
the Bodi and raped them =85 then they came and raped our wives, here,"
one Mursi farmer told the officials.
A DfID official promised to raise their complaints "very strongly with
the [Ethiopian] government", according to the transcript, saying:
"Obviously, we agree it's unacceptable, beating and rapes and lack of
consultation or proper compensation."
A joint USAid-DfID report of the January trip, published only after
the UK international development secretary, Justine Greening, had been
questioned on the issue in parliament, said: "As a consequence of
these events, the Mursi and Bodi in particular stated that they were
living in fear, resorting to other food sources or going hungry. The
phrase 'waiting to die' was used."
However, the report added that "although these allegations are
extremely serious, they could not be substantiated by this visit", and
suggested a "more detailed investigation" was made. Almost 10 months
after the trip, however, Greening told parliament on 5 November that
her department had still not been able to substantiate the claims.
A DfID spokesman confirmed that the Ethiopian government had been
asked about these allegations, but he refused to comment on whether
the department had received a response, or what the British government
was doing to press Ethiopian ministers on the issue, or if the UK was
planning to further investigate the claims.
The department's reaction is at odds with David Cameron's "golden
thread" of development, which promotes the rights and freedoms of
individuals, good governance and justice for the poorest people.
The South Omo region in south-east Ethiopia has a population of around
246,000, mainly pastoralists, composed of more than 12 ethnic groups.
According to the Oakland Institute, these groups' existence is under
"serious threat" as they are forced off their land to make way for the
Gibe III hydroelectric dam project, road-building and commercial
investors.
"The suggestion by the UK minister that DfID has not been able to
substantiate allegations of abuses in the Lower Omo valley is nothing
short of a diabolical statement," said Felix Horne, a consultant for
Human Rights Watch.
DfID is embroiled in a separate legal action over its links with the
Ethiopian government's controversial "villagisation" programme, which
aims to move 1.5 million rural families from their land to new "model"
villages in four regions across the country. The scheme has been hit
by allegations of forced evictions, rapes, beatings and
disappearances.
Ethiopia is one of the biggest recipients of UK aid and a major donor
to the Protection of Basic Services (PBS) programme, which human
rights campaigners say is being used to pay the salaries and
administrative costs of the officials running the relocation scheme.
In September, an Ethiopian farmer, "Mr O", started legal action
against DfID through London-based law firm Leigh Day & Co. He claims
that in 2011 he was forcibly evicted from his farm in the Gambella
region in western Ethiopia and beaten. He says he witnessed rapes and
assaults as government soldiers cleared people off their land.
Leigh Day is arguing that DfID money is linked to these abuses through
PBS funding in Gambella, where the Ethiopian government wants to
resettle 45,000 households =96 almost 100% of the total rural population
=96 over three years. The Ethiopian authorities claim the PBS programme
addresses the challenges of poverty through cost-effective service
delivery to scattered and nomadic populations.
Mr O has told his lawyers that when he tried to return home after
being forced from his land, he was hit repeatedly with a gun, and
taken to a military camp by government soldiers and beaten.
Lawyers at Leigh Day say Mr O is claiming that his family was forced
to resettle in a new village where they were given no access to
farmland, food or water, and where they could not make enough money to
feed themselves.
Two assessments of the villagisation scheme in the region in February
and June this year, which involved DfID, concluded they had uncovered
no evidence of forced displacement or human rights abuses linked to
the scheme. However, both acknowledged that basic services and shelter
were not adequate in the new villages, and said about half the people
they had interviewed had not wanted to move and that there had been
pressure to do so.
Lawyers at Leigh Day are trying to establish whether the UK government
is doing enough to ensure that British money is not contributing to
human rights violations. "The UK spends a considerable amount of money
on international aid and DfID has a responsibility to ensure that this
money does not contribute in any way to human rights abuses such as
the ones suffered by our client," said Rosa Curling, who is
representing Mr O. "Our government has a duty to ensure that the
programmes it supports meet the highest compliance standards."
In response to the claim, the DfID spokesman said: "We take the issue
of human rights extremely seriously and we will respond in due course
to this letter [from Leigh Day & Co].
"The UK does not fund Ethiopia's commune development programme. We are
aware of allegations of human rights abuses on the ground. We will
continue to review the situation and raise any concerns at the highest
levels of the Ethiopian government."
The case is ongoing.
Received on Tue Dec 25 2012 - 09:13:36 EST
