Eu should not tolerate ethiopias repression
EU should not tolerate Ethiopia’s repression
by Lotte Leicht
On 30 January, European Union policymakers sent a clear signal to Ethiopia: no matter how repressive the government becomes, vast sums of aid will continue to flow. This is emerging as a case study in bad donor policy.
In January Ethiopia’s government passed a law that is an attempt to muzzle local activists and prevent them from scrutinising the government’s human-rights record. Among other things, the new law labels local activists as "foreign" if they receive significant funding from abroad and makes it illegal for these "foreign" Ethiopians to scrutinise the government’s record on human rights, policing, conflict resolution and a range of other issues – even gender equality, children’s rights and the rights of handicapped Ethiopians. It also provides the government with bureaucratic tools to shut down groups the government dislikes.
