Ethiopia lessons in repression: violations of academic problems, HRW

accused of having encouraged the demonstration in opposition to federal government policy—not of having killed
unarmed protestors. Two months later, more officials were disciplined and some arrested, but diplomatic and
NGO sources doubted the sincerity of the government’s actions, citing that the infraction of those being punished
was actually having encouraged civilians to demonstrate.
The government has also been ruthless in repressing labor organizations, especially of teachers and their
union. Teachers, who represent one of the largest organized segments of Ethiopian society, have been critical of
developments in education policy. To silence their criticism, the government has sought to destroy the
independent Ethiopian Teachers’ Association (ETA) for the past ten years by denying its members—the largest
group of intellectuals in the country—the opportunity to meet to discuss anything, including education and
politics. Tactics have included arresting many leaders and members and confiscating the association’s property
and bank accounts. An ETA leader was assassinated in 1997. The government even created a new union with the
same name, but teachers have maintained that the “old” ETA is their professional association. During mandatory
meetings of all teachers this July (meetings the government used to instruct them on how to produce good cadres),
government representatives threatened that there will be consequences for teachers who continue to support the
union.
Hundreds of individual teachers who have criticized government policy have also been victims of arrest,
demotion, firing, and intimidation in recent years. Eight teachers were arrested arbitrarily in Sendafa in May
2002 and detained for nearly two months. Their students wanted to protest, but officials warned them and their
parents that students would be shot if they demonstrated. They called off the protest.
At AAU, the country’s largest and most important university, professors have likewise been forbidden to
participate in ETA. This is part of a broader climate by the government-dominated university administration to
stifle academic freedom. Threats on campus are more subtle, though. One professor said he declined to speak out
during the student strike, although he was shocked that the government failed to resolve the situation before it led
to so many deaths and arrests. He and other professors told Human Rights Watch that they refrain from
criticizing government policies because there is no tenure in Ethiopia, and because, as government employees, all
professors can be fired for speaking their minds even when they do so in their personal capacity. The government
has made repeated promises to grant the university autonomy through a charter since 1991 but has yet to do so.
Educators and students are often among the first targets of governments that do not respect civil and
political rights. In Ethiopia, as in many other countries, governmental power has been used to turn the
educational institutions into a system that largely serves the interests of state power-holders. Academic freedom
encompasses more than the freedom of professors to speak and write freely in their fields of specialization. It also
recognizes the crucial role of academics as intellectual leaders of society. In countries such as Ethiopia where
only a small percentage of the population completes secondary school, schoolteachers, and even high school
students, are among the most educated members of society. Silencing such voices is not the way for Ethiopia,
plagued by famine and insecurity, to emerge from its position as one of the poorest countries in the world.
This report is based primarily on research conducted in Ethiopia and Kenya in July 2002. Human Rights
Watch researchers interviewed students, teachers, professors, members of civil society, and international
diplomats. Because government surveillance is perceived to be nearly omnipresent, many people expressed fear
when speaking about human rights violations. Human Rights Watch respects the confidentiality of these sources.
Human Rights Watch wrote to the government of Ethiopia and the Addis Ababa University administration to
solicit its response to violations we had documented but received no response.
Human Rights Watch
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January 2003, Vol. 15,No. 2 (A)