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OGADEN: GRAVEYARD OF RIGHTS 23, August, 1999 

Nevertheless, the forementioned, international human rights treaties were not translated into action by the Ethiopian government which has no respect whatsoever for its interntional obligations and commitments.

The Ogaden Human Rights Committee (OHRC), which monitored closely the human rights situation in the Ogaden, for the last four years, confirms the deterioration of the human rights situation in the region on a daily basis.Therefore, the OHRC believes that the Ethiopian government's accession to the treaties was merely intended to mislead the international community, in order to avoid international public censure over its human rights record, and also to get more aid from donor countries, which demand the improvement of human rights situation in the Thrid World Countries which receive their aid.

In the Ogaden, arbitrary detentions without charge or trial, torture of detainees to death, summary executions, gang raping of women, child molestation, looting and illegal confiscation of property are commonplace, and are daily practiced by Ethiopian army and security forces with impunity.

2. PLACES OF DETENTION

1. Ethiopia ratified all important international human rights treaties protecting individuals from arbitrary arrest, including the ICCPR, Article 9 of which provides that:
2. Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. No one shall be deprived of his liberty except on such grounds and in accordance with such procedure as are established by law.
3. Anyone who is arrested shall be informed, at the time of arrest, of the reasons for his arrest and shall be promptly informed of any charges against him.
4. Anyone arrested or detained on a criminal charge shall be brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorized by law to exercise judicial power and shall be entitled to trial within a reasonable time or, to release. It shall not be the general rule that the persons awaiting trial shall be detained in custody, but release may be subject to guarantees to appear for trial, at any other stage of the judicial proceedings, and, should occasion arise, for execution of the judgement.
5. Anyone who is deprived of his liberty by arrest or detention shall be entitled to take proceedings before a court, in order that that court may decide without delay on the lawfulness of his detention and order his release if the detention is not lawful.
6. Anyone who has been the victim of unlawful arrest or detention shall have an enforceable right to compensation.
7. Article 6 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) provides:
   Every individual shall have the right to liberty and to the security of person. No one may be deprived of his freedom except for reasons and conditions previously laid down by law. In particular, no one may be arbitrarily arrested or detained.

   Article 7 of the ACHPR provides:
   1. Every individual shall have the right to have his cause heard.This comprises:
   (a) The right to appeal to competent national organs against acts violating
   his fundamental rights as recognized and guaranteed by conventions,
   laws, regulations and customs in force;
   (b) the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty by a competent
   court or tribunal;
   (c) the right to defence, including the right to be defended by consel
   of his choice;
   (d) the right to be tried within a reasonable time by an impartial court
   or tribunal.
   2. No one may be condemned for an act or omission which did not constitute
   a legally punishable offence at the time it was committed. No penalty may
   be inflicted for an offence for which no provission was made at the time
   it was committed. Punishment is personal and can be imposed only on the
   offender.

According to the Principles on Detention or Imprisonment, in particular principles 1, 22, 24, 25 and 26 and SMR rules 9-14, 17-19, detainees shall be kept in humane facilities, designed to preserve health, and shall be provided with adequate food, water, shelter, clothing, medical services, exercise and items of personal hygiene.

However, the Ethiopian authorities held thousands of Somali Ogadenis in overcrowded and filthy militray detention camps. The detainees are civilians, including women, elderly people and minors, accused of membership or sympathising with the ONLF.They are detained for years or many months without charges or trial.

The UN Standard Minimum Rules for treatment of prisoners requires that prisoners are given prompt access to their families, lawyers and to their own doctor, but the Ethiopian law ignores these rights completely.

According to released detainees' testimonies, detainees are maltreated, tortured and beaten routinely in all these camps during interrogations to extract confessions and information about the ONLF. Many young detainees in their teens were forcibly conscripted and transferred to Ethio Eritrean front lines. The Ogadeni teenagers are being used as cannon fodder and minesweepers in the Ethiopian human wave attacks against Eritrean forces. The conscripts have neither military training nor adequate arms to defend themselves.

In December 1998, inmates at Jigjiga prison, staged five days of peaceful demonstrations in protest against prison conditions and to draw authorities' attention to their other legitimate grievances. The protesters were suppressed brutally. The presumed leaders of the protesters had been beaten severely and denied medical treatment for their injuries. The prisoners were demanding among other things, the immediate release of those whose jail terms had expired, to charge or release those who were not charged, medical care, regular family visits, to be treated humanely and better living conditions.

In the Ogaden, the practice of keeping political prisoners in detention indefinetly without charges or trial is commonplace, especially in military detention camps and police stations. The Ogaden Human Rights Committee calls for them to be brought to court promptly, charged with a recognizable criminal offence and given prompt and early trials, or otherwise released unconditionally.

Ethiopia neither respects the international instruments which it contracted nor its own constitutional provisions, which protects the rights of arrested, accused, and detained individuals. Although the govenment accepted all important international human rights treaties protecting individuals from arbitrary arrest, torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, its army and security forces disregard those treaties on a daily basis.

For the last four years, the Ogaden Human Rights Committee, has carried out extensive investigation of the human rights situation throughout the Ogaden,and has documented gross violations, including illegal imprisonments, mass arrests without charges or trial, enforced disappearances, torture, rape, child molestation, extrajudicial killings, abduction, forced labour, hostage taking, systematic religious and racial persecution, dispossession and widespread looting by Ethiopian government army and security forces.

3. Political Imprisonment

Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states that:
" Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status..."
Article 7 of the ICCPR, provides, inter alia, that:
"No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment... " Article 9 prohibits arbitrary arrest or detention, and provides that anyone who is arrested shall be informed, at the time of arrest, of reasons for his or her arrest and shall be promptly informed of any charges against him.

Article 10 provides that all persons deprived of their liberty are to be treated with humanity. Article 18 provides for freedom of movement and freedom to choose a residence. Article 19 of the ICCPR protects freedom of speech and opinion, and provides, inter alia, that:"Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice ... " Article 10 of the UDHR states that:"Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him."

Nevertheless, hunderds of Ogadenis, including politicians, religious scholars, businessmen, students, pastoralists, children, women and elderly people have been detained, tortured, disappeared or killed by the Ethiopian army and security forces, because of their ethnic background, language, religion, or political opinion. No one was ever brought before a public hearing. Scores died in detention, were tortured, and many others disappeared without leaving a trace.

To illustrate the abovementioned assertions, some cases are detailed in the following pages, while other cases are listed and attached at the end of the report, with brief notes indicating the destiny of the victim(s).

If you wish full and detailed report, please contact:

Ogaden Human Rights Committee (OHRC)
P.O.Box 649
7400 AP Deventer
The Netherlands
Or
Ogaden Human Rights Committee (OHRC)
2660 Southvale Crs
Unit 338
Ottawa, ON
K1B 4W5
Canada

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