Ethiopia lessons in repression: violations of academic problems, HRW
Ethiopia lessons in repression: violations of academic problems, HRW
Ethiopia lessons in repression: violations of academic problems, HRW
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Alemayehu Teferra, president <strong>of</strong> AAU, on charges <strong>of</strong> human rights <strong>violations</strong> under the Derg. As <strong>of</strong> November<br />
2002, he was still <strong>in</strong> detention await<strong>in</strong>g judgment, his trial reportedly delayed because <strong>of</strong> a shortage <strong>of</strong><br />
magistrates. 34<br />
After the university reopened <strong>in</strong> April 1993, the newly appo<strong>in</strong>ted university president imposed new<br />
contract requirements on all pr<strong>of</strong>essors. The government-dom<strong>in</strong>ated adm<strong>in</strong>istration also sent letters to forty-one<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essors who had been critical <strong>of</strong> the government, summarily <strong>in</strong>form<strong>in</strong>g them <strong>of</strong> their dismissal—<strong>in</strong> violation <strong>of</strong><br />
their contracts, as well as <strong>of</strong> government and university policies. One <strong>of</strong> them told Human Rights Watch that their<br />
demand for an <strong>in</strong>quiry <strong>in</strong>to the government response to the protest was among the “political activities” for which<br />
they were dismissed; the president <strong>of</strong> the university reportedly said they had <strong>in</strong>cited students to demonstrate.<br />
They and other educators had also been critical <strong>of</strong> a new policy that local elementary schools teach <strong>in</strong> local<br />
languages and <strong>of</strong> other government policies.<br />
Those dismissed at AAU <strong>in</strong> 1993 <strong>in</strong>cluded five <strong>of</strong> the university’s eleven full pr<strong>of</strong>essors, its only<br />
specialists <strong>in</strong> some fields, and pr<strong>of</strong>essors who had won <strong>in</strong>ternational recognition for their scholarship. Some <strong>of</strong><br />
them were subsequently harassed by government soldiers. The government also made efforts to ensure their<br />
cont<strong>in</strong>ued marg<strong>in</strong>alization, for example by <strong>in</strong>timidat<strong>in</strong>g their families and friends and staff <strong>of</strong> NGOs that hired<br />
them. Yet another pr<strong>of</strong>essor, Fesseha Zewde <strong>of</strong> the history department, was dismissed <strong>in</strong> June <strong>of</strong> the same year. 35<br />
At the end <strong>of</strong> a three-week capacity-build<strong>in</strong>g workshop for university pr<strong>of</strong>essors <strong>in</strong> July and August 2002, Prime<br />
M<strong>in</strong>ister Meles was quoted as say<strong>in</strong>g that the government had dismissed the pr<strong>of</strong>essors because they had made the<br />
university their “political headquarters” and that he now “regretted the way the dismissal measure was taken.” 36<br />
Despite the latter acknowledgment, the legacy <strong>of</strong> these fir<strong>in</strong>gs cont<strong>in</strong>ues to stifle <strong>academic</strong> freedom today.<br />
Although the status <strong>of</strong> <strong>academic</strong> freedom <strong>in</strong> neighbor<strong>in</strong>g Eritrea (which ga<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong>dependence from<br />
<strong>Ethiopia</strong> <strong>in</strong> 1991) is beyond the scope <strong>of</strong> this report, it is worth not<strong>in</strong>g that the leaders <strong>of</strong> the newly <strong>in</strong>dependent<br />
country <strong>in</strong>herited the same disda<strong>in</strong> for <strong>academic</strong> freedom shown by <strong>Ethiopia</strong>n authorities. In a 1993 study <strong>of</strong><br />
prospects for <strong>academic</strong> freedom <strong>in</strong> Eritrea, Human Rights Watch detailed a susta<strong>in</strong>ed policy <strong>of</strong> brutal <strong>repression</strong><br />
under both Haile Selassie and the Derg amount<strong>in</strong>g to a “systematic policy <strong>of</strong> deny<strong>in</strong>g educational freedom to<br />
Eritreans” for more than thirty years. 37 Human Rights Watch has cont<strong>in</strong>ued to receive frequent disturb<strong>in</strong>g reports<br />
<strong>of</strong> arrests <strong>of</strong> students and other <strong>violations</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>academic</strong> freedom <strong>in</strong> Eritrea <strong>in</strong> recent years. 38<br />
34 Human Rights Watch <strong>in</strong>terview, Wash<strong>in</strong>gton, DC, November 3, 2002.<br />
35 Human Rights Watch <strong>in</strong>terviews, Addis Ababa, July 21 and 24, 2002 and Wash<strong>in</strong>gton, DC, September 23, 2002; Ivo<br />
Strecker, “Addis Ababa University Under Siege”; Donald N. Lev<strong>in</strong>e, “Is <strong>Ethiopia</strong> Cutt<strong>in</strong>g Off Its Head Aga<strong>in</strong>?” <strong>Ethiopia</strong>n<br />
Review, No. 8 1993.<br />
36 “Meles ‘regrets’ dismiss<strong>in</strong>g 42 university teachers,” Menelik, August 31, 2002, cited <strong>in</strong> <strong>Ethiopia</strong>n Press Digest, September<br />
5, 2002.<br />
37 Africa Watch (now Human Rights Watch/Africa), “Freedom <strong>of</strong> Expression and Ethnic Discrim<strong>in</strong>ation <strong>in</strong> the Educational<br />
System: Past and Future,” A Human Rights Watch Report, Vol. 5 No. 1, January 1993.<br />
38 In 2002, for example, the government <strong>of</strong> Eritrea embarked upon a campaign to conscript youths, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g university<br />
students, who had not completed their mandatory service. An Asmara resident said the roundups were carried out ruthlessly<br />
and that the city streets were practically deserted—most boys and men between the ages <strong>of</strong> fourteen and forty had either been<br />
rounded up or had gone <strong>in</strong>to hid<strong>in</strong>g. 38 In May 2002, some forty Asmara University students were reportedly arrested and illtreated<br />
for refus<strong>in</strong>g to participate <strong>in</strong> a summer work program “Nearly Forty Dissident University Students Arrested,”<br />
awate.com, May 13, 2002. (retrieved May 15, 2002). The former leader <strong>of</strong> the student council told the press that the same<br />
th<strong>in</strong>g happened to him and tens <strong>of</strong> others a year earlier; he managed to escape after spend<strong>in</strong>g a year <strong>in</strong> solitary conf<strong>in</strong>ement.<br />
Chalachew Tadesse, Interview <strong>of</strong> Semere Kesete, Sub-Saharan Informer, August 2002 available at www.walta<strong>in</strong>fo.com,<br />
(retrieved September 5, 2002).<br />
Human Rights Watch<br />
13<br />
January 2003, Vol. 15,No. 2 (A)