When Ethiopians observe the International Human Rights Day, they must have mixed feeling. On the one hand, they might demand ‘what kinds of human rights? Are there these notions on the ground? We know that they exist on the books but were they ever implemented? And they may dismiss you and your theories as abstract and academic.
In fact one might argue that talking about observing Human Rights Day in a country where there are still millions internally displaced people for various reasons, and many are still abused by forces which defy the inevitable change of guard at Arat Kilo may sound vain. But there must also be the optimism to look at the bigger picture and that the atrocities and heinous violations committed against our own people by those who were supposed to protect and safeguard them may be over once and for all. The future of our children will be brighter than the past of our fathers and current one in which we are living.
Hence, there could still be good cause to mark the Human Rights Day. It will at least remind us that there are certain limits that the ‘arrogance of power’ should not reach. The dictum that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely is never more relevant in our case than any time before.
Citizens were demanding the monopoly of power abused by a few against the majority in a system that was based on false premises and injustices as well as by out fashioned ideologies needed to be stopped. The current reforms could be taken as a chapter in this paradigm shift. Ethiopians would once again rise up and walk along international arena with pride and composure and dignity without being associated to famine, poverty and wars. For more than fifty years all attempts have failed due to various factors not least the selfish nature of some of its own power hungry citizens and ruthless a system that was reminiscent of the early Soviet days!
It could be stated that no government is immune of a certain kind of violations of human rights, but the strength of the society in terms of challenging the government to stop engaging in widespread and unstoppable forms of violations could be a guarantee that they do have a limit. Depending on the kind of system of government and depending on whether there are strong civil societies and opposition parties the check against such abuses varies. Where the power of the government is unchecked by any form of opposition, such as in our country, citizens are left at the mercy of their government. And in many cases suppression of human rights becomes an instrument of perpetuation of one’s authority. No wonder the world teems with such incidents and hence no one should be naïve to believe that violations happen only here.
The United Nations and other international bodies try to watch on what sorts of violations human rights are perpetrated on innocent, powerless people by their own government. They are often heard expressing their grave concern over reports they receive from their partners and associates. NGOs that are committed to serving as watch dogs on violations that tyrannical governments impose on their own citizens serve to call to account governments which have authoritarian tendencies. It is often true of military dictatorships such as the one we had before the current system was established that any thing that had something to do with human rights was for them a waste.
They have always abhorred the very phrase because they may realize that often what they do is consistently against the provisions enshrined in the UDHR.
Many times we hear the argument that a government that does not guarantee the human rights of its citizens is not worth its name. In fact, the very first assignment of any government must be the guarantee of safety and security of the country and its citizens. It should be the protection of their human rights. The basic principle that there are inalienable human rights that are just inherent in the nature of the human person seems not to be digested by leaders especially in Africa. Even after seventy years from the promulgation of the UDHR and the UN charter and several international human rights documents, there are still stories of horrendous atrocities committed throughout the planet and our country is no exception.
The recent revelations made by our country’s investigative bodies on alleged violations of basic human rights including the inflicting of the most heinous of crimes on individuals just on the suspicion of being against the government or not supporting or because they exposed the crimes that these forces commit, are to say the least embarrassing. For a country such as ours that has passed episodes of tremendous violations of human rights in its very recent history, it becomes doubly shaming. This government that has administered the country for almost three decades was always full of promises that nothing of the kind the Derg committed against its own people would be repeated.
In fact, the promulgation of the modern federal constitution appeared to have opened a new era. But eventually it was to result simply a façade for public relations consumption and a manner to earn the recognition and support of the international community!
The government used to argue that the chapter on fundamental human rights was one of the strengths of the constitution and but those who did not trust the activities of the government began to declare to the international community that there were serious and systematic violations of human rights in our country on a daily basis. They were committed by security and intelligence officers who may not even have bothered to go through what human rights are and where the limits of their authority may lie.
Even if we accept the fact that there may be no government on earth immune from violations, we can however make distinctions and comparisons between what sorts of breaches are made, when and how and on whom. The problem would be it is easy to avoid any scrutiny for intelligence officers working on threats of public security. They are given carte blanche in their clandestine operations including ‘torture’! This is something completely condemned by the human rights organisations but governments say they need to take the strongest measures against the fiercest of enemies.
Incidentally, African governments have never been reputed for their human rights records and when international watch dogs present their report they top the list of violators. Limiting the abuse of power by law enforcement has always been a challenge and this is true of even advanced societies For instance, every one knows the case of treatments of minorities in the US when it comes to law enforcement. In many countries if some one is listed as a terror suspect, it would be naïve to expect the full respect of their human rights. The law of course never allows the abuses to any one including the one caught in flagrante delicto or red handed. They are entitled to due process in a court of law.
These ideas may sound fantastic and many an authoritarian African governor may smile reading such narrative. These are for them niceties, fruits of the imagination of western philosophers. They might argue society has never been composed of angels. And suspects can hardly expect to be treated as such. When human rights organisations were once on vogue and their denunciations were made public against many African and mostly third world countries, there were many who accused them of hypocrisy using double standard depending on the wealth of that country, its strategic importance etc. The game seemed any government that stands by our side to help us in some international campaign say for instance in the war on terrorism, the ISIS etc is a good ally and there would be little concern for condemnations of violations.
The same cannot be argued however to less equal countries. Sanctions would be threatened; a smear campaign would be promoted against them. So the issue of honesty and consistency in these areas has always been tricky.
It is to be recalled that our country was considered for years as a good ally of western powers and when our government volunteered to send troops to fight alleged terrorist cells in Somalia, it secured continuous and substantial support in ‘development cooperation’. In the meantime, the insistence on the allegations of human rights violations committed against its own citizens was not a focus of their attention. The bottom line seemed to be, ‘as long as you are useful to my national interests, ready to support our intelligence and military establishments in the Horn area, we would not give too much emphasis on other matters!
We see that in many parts of the world with very powerful countries which however have the most dreadful of human rights records on their own citizens and others and no ones dares to interfere.
Apart from similar considerations our major concern now is how can we avoid the repetition of the kinds of heinous crimes as recently exposed by the investigative team of the Attorney General. Our children certain deserve better.
December 16/2018
BY FITSUM GETACHEW
