July 11, 2003

The EPRDF of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi continues to violate the Child Rights Convention and, as a consequence, child labor and child prostitution are on a rise in Addis Abeba and all over Ethiopia. The alarming violations have been emphasized by an ongoing workshop in Addis Abeba's Ghion Hotel.

A conservative estimate puts the number of children laboring under harsh conditions around one million. The rise in child prostitution can be gauged in the capital city, Addis Abeba, where small girls ply the trade. A great number of these child prostitutes are afflicted by AIDS. Most are under 15 and close to 74% of them were not married before turning to prostitution for survival. The prevailing economic harship and poverty, and neglect by the rulers in place to redress the situation at all levels, have all contributed to the worsening of the plight of children. There is also the thriving business in the sale of children, an illegal commerce in which the high officials are engaged in directly or through third parties. The sale of children involves a thinly disguised child adoption operation. Officials and their close relatives are selling off orphan, poor or abandoned children to foreigners without observing the legal procedures for adoption. According to previous allegations, one of those accused of such illegal activities is a close relative of the Prime Minister himself and has based his operations in France.

Poverty, lack of edcuation, lack of legal protection, family disintegration and most of the other reasons leading to child prostitution and child labor are the responsibilities of the government in place. It is no exaggeration to assert that the officials of the EPRDF patronize the high- class brothels employing preteen girls as go go dancers or topless waitresses. The proliferation of drug parlors and video centers showing pornographic films is also enjoying the encouragement of those in power so much so that many people are claiming that there is a systematic policy to "destroy the young" in the country.

The campaign to protect the children of Ethiopia from abuse at all levels must primarily involve a campaign directed against the violations of the rights of the children by the EPRDF itself.

SOCEPP