In the last nine years of SOCEPP's existence the human rights situation in Ethiopia has gone from bad to worse. SOCEPP was formed primarily to take up the case of those political prisoners who, for one reason or another, were ignored or forgotten. However, the scope of its activities has expanded and on top of covering the overall human rights violations in Ethiopia, SOCEPP has also been obliged to deal with the plight of refugees and others abroad, especially in the neighboring countries.

I n the past nine years, the number of political prisoners has increased considerably and now reaches an estimated 15,000. Hundreds remain "disappeared", some since 1991. The ethnic politics in place, which is based on discrimination and in violation of human rights, has generated bloody ethnic conflicts in which the Federal police and soldiers have emerged as the perpetrators of massacres (as is seen now in Gambela for example). Denial of due process has become routine, torture is systematic, arbitrary killings by death squads continue. The repression against the civic society and its organizations is relentless and the regime is one of the worst enemies of the free press. SOCEPP has for the past nine years issued communiques, updates and press releases to expose the gross violations of rights by the EPRDF in power in Addis Abeba. Moreover, it has mobilized help

SOCEPP has been able to accomplish all that it was able to do thanks to the assistance it received from its members and supporters. Its web site (www.socepp.de) is visited by tens of thousands every month and it has proved to be a very valuable voice in defense of the human rights of Ethiopians. SOCEPP hopes that the moral and financial support it had been receiving will continue so that this voice in defense of human rights in Ethiopia shall continue to be heard.

SOCEPP