MARCH 8 /2002

 VIOLATIONS OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN CONTINUE

 Despite Constitutional and legal "guarantees" that the EPRDF government claims women enjoy in Ethiopia, the human rights condition of Ethiopian women projects a grim and sad picture. The violation of the rights of women continues unabated.

With each passing year the magnitude of the problems faced by Ethiopian women has increased considerably. The violence against women has reached alarming levels with out adequate protection or redress being given to the victims. The existing laws are not applied and the women are exposed to arbitrary violations of their rights. Discrimination at the job site (employment and salary), illegal trafficking in women (sold to modern slavery in the Middle East), the proliferation of officially sanctioned prostitution (including child prostitution),the inability to access to education, the marginalization of women from effective levels of political activity, etc...all go to show that the lot of women in Ethiopia has not improved at all despite verbal claims to the contrary by the those in power. Aside from domestic violence, genital mutilation,abduction, and other equally important matters, the Ethiopian woman primarily faces an official and discriminatory policy that denies her basic rights in the economic, political, educational and other fields. While she does share the suffering of most citizens irrespective of gender, the Ethiopian woman continues to face up to particular violations that affect her as a woman. That the government tried to ban the one legal organization struggling for the respect of the rights of women (the Ethiopian Women Lawyers' Association) is indicative of its intentions and its refusal to respect the rights of women as women.

 On March 8, we are forced to recognize the reality that in Ethiopia the violation of the rights of women is an integral part of the government's action and actual policies. The absence of democracy and the denial of due process and the rule of law that prevails in the society have particularly exposed women to the worsening of their condition in all fields.