The denial of the rights of Ethiopian women has continued with little or no attempt to confront this injustice. On the contrary, the ruling EPRDF has symbolized the increased violation of rights that Ethiopian women have been forced to endure for years.

Ethiopian women played a prominent role in the 1974 Revolution that promised change but was hijacked by a brutal military regime. This regime also paid lip service to rights while turning totalitarian and committing atrocities against the people. Women were then the backbone of many of the guerrilla movements against the military regime. Ever since the EPRDF took over power in 1991, women have been given the usual dose of demagogy and "rights on paper" while being denied their basic rights in practice. The condition of women in the rural areas is deplorable. Girls are subjected to underage marriage, kidnapped, raped, forced to undergo genital mutilation, denied schooling and pushed to wards prostitution. In the cities, there is no better situation for the majority of women whose condition contrasts with that of the elite women linked to the ruling EPRDF. Thousands of young girls, many of whom are underage, have become prostitutes and the majority have become victims of AIDS. Others are sent off/sold away to the Middle East under the cover of work as domestics. Their suffering in the hands of cruel and racist employers has been documented time and again. Women are not equal to men in almost all fields and they remain marginalized.

The prevailing violation of the rights of the people particularly targets women both young or old. That Africa's biggest fistula hospital is in Addis Abeba is indicative of an aspect of their suffering. The system in place and the elite in power routinely violate the rights of women and militate for the spread of a culture that degrades and humiliates women as a whole. The courts, controlled by the regime, are lax when it comes to punishing rapists specially if these criminals are connected to the ruling group. Sex tourists are flocking to Addis Abeba now and underage girls are on the street to be victimized by these predators.

In Ethiopia March 8 remains a day of commitment to continue the struggle for the respect of the rights of the women.

Release Aberash Berta and all other women political prisoners!

SOCEPP