Ethiopia lessons in repression: violations of academic problems, HRW

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egan in 1998, one from AAU and another from the Civil Service College. 200 Several other professors also told Human Rights Watch they feel they are discriminated against because of their ethnicity. An Oromo professor of anthropology said that he was one of two Oromos and eleven Amharas in his department. He accused the Amharas of practicing “tyranny of the majority” and using department politics to “stifle” his academic work. For example, he said the chair of the department denied him permission to accept a research fellowship at the University of Durham Royal Institute of Anthropology in the U.K. in 2001. 201 The Amhara professor who had been chair at the time in turn resigned from the university in 2002 after the university administration denied him approval to spend a year in the U.S. to complete a post-doctoral fellowship at Yale University, a decision he believes was taken in part because of his political views. 202 As noted, Professor Mesfin Woldemariam (who was among those dismissed in 1991) and other professors have been accused of supporting the Ethiopian-nationalist opposition movement and inciting students to do the same. None of the professors interviewed for this report said the government had overtly interfered with what they taught or wrote as academics. But they consistently reported that government policies serve to encourage self-censorship, including the absence of tenure in Ethiopian universities, the authorities’ regular practice of hiring professors on limited two-year contracts, the fact that government-appointed officials have final say on all leadership appointments, and systemic lack of transparency. 203 Particularly controversial has been that all university instructors are employed on two-year contracts, at the end of which they must undergo student and peer evaluations. In December 2002, professors accused the government of using evaluations to exert control over academia; the university president and vice presidents resigned in protest. 204 A week later, five faculty deans and professors reportedly resigned in protest of continued government interference. A faculty dean was quoted in the press lamenting, “The academic staff of the university had expected better academic freedom and improvements in all fields after the face-to-face discussion with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi this summer. But things have turned out to be otherwise.” 205 (He was referring to the mandatory capacity building seminar led by the prime minister in July and August 2002.) A number of professors complained that the use of two-year contracts and the absence of tenure serve to stifle academic freedom. A professor who used to teach at AAU under the Derg recalled that any instructor possessing a Ph.D. automatically had tenure. Another professor clarified that tenure was effectively abolished after the 1993 firings. 206 The university rulebook, which dates back to the Derg, regulates tenure only for expatriate professors, not for Ethiopians. 207 Human Rights Watch does not know of any cases where the threat of termination has been used to influence professors’ teachings or writings directly. However, such threats clearly have contributed to a climate of self-censorship. A political science professor told European colleagues that he feels more comfortable writing about his discipline than he has in the past. 208 And a law professor is proud that the administration has permitted 200 Human Rights Watch interviews, Addis Ababa, July 20 and 26, 2002. On abuses, including mass expulsions and arbitrary deprivation of nationality, against ethnic Eritreans during the war, see, Human Rights Watch, “The Horn of Africa War: Mass Expulsions and the Nationality Issue (June 1998 – April 2002),” A Human Rights Watch Report, January 2003. 201 Human Rights Watch interview, Addis Ababa, July 17, 2002. 202 Human Rights Watch interview, Addis Ababa, July 23, 2002. 203 Article 3(2) on Prohibited acts, Addis Ababa Contract of Employment for Academic Personnel. 204 “Leave the University Alone,” The Addis Tribune, December 13, 2002. 205 “University Deans, Instructors Tender Resignation: Prof. Andreas Appointed President,” The Addis Tribune, December 20, 2002. 206 Human Rights Watch interviews, Addis Ababa, July 22 and 26, 2002. 207 Senate Legislation of Addis Ababa University (with revisions up to the end of the 1985-86 academic year), February 1987. Since 1987, the rules have been updated by circulars but the university has apparently not published current rules together. An administrator interviewed by Human Rights Watch said he was not aware of any relevant updates. Human Rights Watch interview, Addis Ababa, July 23, 2002. 208 Human Rights Watch interview by telephone, New York, June 27, 2002. Human Rights Watch 39 January 2003, Vol. 15,No. 2 (A)
the faculty to teach a human rights course in which students debate the current human rights situation and that he has published widely on legal topics of his choosing. Yet, because he is a government employee, he opted not to express his opinion that the government was at fault during the 2001 student strike. “I didn’t speak out either way during the strike, because I consider myself a government employee,” he said. “However, I think the government should have been more mature and given in to the students’ demands.” 209 The government also has final say in the appointments to positions of leadership within the university. In the selection of chairs and deans, for example, the faculty nominates three candidates and forwards their names along with the number of votes each received to the government-appointed administration, which then may select any of the three for the position. In many cases, these procedures are non-controversial. In the law faculty, for example, two of the three professors nominated expressed their preference not to be chosen as they had already served as dean, and one professor said the entire faculty was content that the administration chose the third. However, three professors told Human Rights Watch researchers they felt even the possibility of government interference wielded substantial influence over their decision of whom to nominate and over their departments in general. 210 Academics also said that administrators abused their authority for political ends, most commonly to prevent certain professors from taking advantage of research and travel fellowships, as discussed above, but also to deny promotions and salary increases or otherwise discipline professors who displease the government. Human Rights Watch received four reports of professors whom the university had denied permission to travel abroad to conduct research. The Oromo professor mentioned above was forced to forego a research grant of approximately U.S.$40,000 in Britain in order to keep his job. 211 Another was denied an exit visa and was accused of supporting the OLF. Shortly thereafter police came to his home and threatened him, leading him to flee the country. 212 The others resigned to pursue one-year fellowships, one in the U.S. and the other in Germany. They plan to return to Ethiopia after their fellowships, but say they will seek employment outside the university. Yet another lecturer got permission to continue her studies in Europe, but, in order to receive an exit visa, had to provide a guarantee that a family member would reimburse the Ethiopian government the entire amount of her scholarship if she does not return (approximately U.S.$90,000 for two years tuition, room, and board). 213 The monetary guarantee is understandable given the devastating effects of the brain drain from Ethiopia, but such a severe financial burden imposed on academics by the government could be arbitrarily applied and may violate university autonomy. The government has apparently left two prominent opposition politicians who teach at AAU, Professor Merera Gudina of the Oromo National Congress and Dr. Beyene Petros of the Southern Ethiopia Peoples Democratic Coalition, free to engage in their political activities. Dr. Beyene, who is also a member of parliament, attributes this to their high profile. He was originally on the list of those to be fired in 1993, but believes he was spared because he was so well known. He said it was a shame, though, that other professors are afraid to be active in politics. 214 A representative of the Ethiopian Democratic Party said that professors, like students, who are active in that party prefer to keep their role secret. Members of the EDP have been victims of frequent harassment including arbitrary arrests and government interference with party meetings. 215 Continued Denial of Students’ Rights As described above, AAU students paid a heavy price for demanding their academic freedom in 2001. Their demands have not yet been met. Students and professors complained to Human Rights Watch that when the students returned, they found that the student union and student newspaper remain banned, that students are still 209 Human Rights Watch interview, Addis Ababa, July 26, 2002. 210 Human Rights Watch interviews, Addis Ababa, July 17, 20, 23, 24, and 26. 211 Human Rights Watch interview, Addis Ababa, July 17, 2002. 212 Human Rights Watch interview, Nairobi, July 12, 2002. 213 Human Rights Watch interviews, Addis Ababa, July 23, 2002. 214 Human Rights Watch interview, Addis Ababa, July 19, 2002. 215 Human Rights Watch interviews, Addis Ababa, July 26 and 29, 2002. Human Rights Watch 40 January 2003, Vol. 15,No. 2 (A)
Page 1 and 2: ETHIOPIA 350 Fifth Ave 34 th Floor
Page 3 and 4: ETHIOPIA: TIMELINE OF KEY EVENTS AN
Page 5 and 6: Human Rights Watch I. SUMMARY Being
Page 7 and 8: II. RECOMMENDATIONS To Government o
Page 9 and 10: III. BACKGROUND Ethiopia is, by all
Page 11 and 12: police arrested an Addis Ababa busi
Page 13 and 14: ultimately waged a successful civil
Page 15 and 16: IV. SUPPRESSION OF STUDENT ACTIVISM
Page 17 and 18: The Oromia State Council also repor
Page 19 and 20: AAU Student Strike, April 2001 In t
Page 21 and 22: Amhara student, “Even some Tigrea
Page 23 and 24: Subsequent Arrests Police silenced
Page 25 and 26: Most of the hundreds of others deta
Page 27 and 28: The next major confrontation betwee
Page 29 and 30: the disputes. On the contrary, they
Page 31 and 32: Ethiopian security forces, as descr
Page 33 and 34: V. DENIAL OF TEACHERS’ FREEDOM OF
Page 35 and 36: Addis Ababa wrote letters to the ol
Page 37 and 38: The teachers in Sendafa were outrag
Page 39: When the university was first creat
Page 43 and 44: The student union first published i
Page 45 and 46: VIII. ETHIOPIA: A CASE STUDY OF VIO
Page 47 and 48: In his “Thematic Report on Freedo
Page 49 and 50: academic freedom, and freedom of as
Page 51 and 52: intentional lethal use of firearms
Page 53 and 54: X. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This report was

Ethiopia lessons in repression: violations of academic problems, HRW

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